Day Three — Nature

For most of his life, dreams had not been a comfortable thing for Hunter.

Far more often than not, vivid nightmares or vague night terrors would wake him in the middle of the night, no matter how badly he needed the sleep, and leave him either to settle back into a fitful, unsatisfying rest … or simply to endure the dark hours until he needed to get up.

The nightmares or terrors ranged over quite a spectrum. Most involved his unc- Belos. Either him devolving into his cursed form to punish him for his innumerable failures, or else succumbing to the curse and begging with his last words why Hunter couldn't save him. Others were about basic training, or the missions he had been sent on to capture or execute wild witches. Still more were about the vague threat of those wild witches that had supposedly taken his and Belos's family.

Since meeting his friends, more tinder had been added to that hellfire. Sights and sounds of his friends and new found-family being petrified, or blasted to dust, or thrown into the Boiling Sea … and countless other horrible fates mocked and plagued him many nights.

Any other dreams tended to be more boring than anything else, usually reliving his castle duties. Luz had once commented that it might mean he had no good memories to relive, which had depressed everyone and had Camila swooping down with hot chocolate and a promise that he would have plenty of good memories for dreams if it was the last thing she did.

But since the human realm, and even more so since Belos's final moments, the number of nightmares slowly dropped to be replaced by, as Camila called the, sweet dreams.

He dreamt of apprenticing under Dell to carve palismen, of playing flyer derby and winning the island-wide championship, or attending school and excelling in classes as he stuck with his supportive friend group. Of sewing and watching documentaries with Camila. Of baking with Vee. Of living the scenes of Cosmic Frontier with Gus and Camila.

Those and so many more! More than he could ever, dare he say it, dream of …!

This dream, though … felt more like the boring dreams. There was no raw fear or joy, just him sitting on a log in the forests of the Boiling Isles, thin fog surrounding him as he faced a well-made and crackling fire pit. What in the world?

"Hello?" Hunter asked aloud, looking slowly around. He felt no fear, so it couldn't be a nightmare, right?

"Hello," came an answering voice from across the fire. Hunter jumped and looked to find he was looking at … himself? No, wait a moment. He looked closer and found that this person greatly favored him, but was older, with higher cheekbones and messier hair that was grown long and held back in a ponytail. He was dressed in an old-fashioned shirt laced at the collar, thick trousers held up with suspenders, and sturdy boots.

"You …" Hunter breathed, realization crashing upon him like a wave.

"Hello, Hunter," the man said with a smile.

"Caleb," Hunter said. "You're Caleb Wittebane."

"Indeed, I am," Caleb confirmed with a nod. His voice was much like Hunter's, though noticeably deeper and with an accent much like Belos's. But rather than dread, that voice made Hunter feel more relaxed. "And you, dear boy, are the last grimwalker made by my wayward brother."

"This is a strange dream," Hunter commented, ignoring Caleb's comment.

"Yes, though not entirely a dream," Caleb replied. "I am here with you, son. As are," he lifted a hand palm-up and other figures emerged from the fog around them, "many of your predecessors." The figures were a multitude of Golden Guards, all with uniforms of subtly different styles aligned with fashions from different decades of the Boiling Isles. One even had a wild mane of white hair.

"Where are we?" Hunter asked, eyes wide.

"I'm not certain," Caleb said, weaving his fingers as he seemed to relax. The Golden Guards all sat with him on logs that appeared, forming a semicircle to face Hunter. "I believe it has to do with the galdorstone that serves as your heart, as it did for all of these gentlemen. Perhaps each of your souls left an imprint upon it?"

"Each of our souls?" Hunter asked.

"Of course," Caleb chuckled. "You didn't think you were simply a puppet, did you?"

As a matter of fact, Hunter had wondered just that. No, that wasn't quite right. He had feared it, and had buried that fear deep in the recesses of his mind. He noticed the twinkle in Caleb's eyes and realized with the certainty of intuition that Caleb knew this and had sought to assuage his fear on the matter.

"The nature of grimwalkers is still a murky thing," Caleb admitted. "I cannot claim to be an expert on the subject, being dead and all," he laughed mirthlessly. "But there are many things that I and our fellows have found over the, erm, shall we say generations."

"Like what?" Hunter asked. He couldn't deny that his scholarly curiosity was burning bright at the chance to learn more about himself.

"Like a father passing certain traits to his sons," Caleb explained, "every Golden Guard seems to have inherited things from my bones." He smiled with unmistakable paternal pride. "My scholarly instincts, my determination, a strong moral compass that had each and every one of them," he passed his gaze over the assembled grimwalkers with more of that fatherly pride, "to defy my brother even at the cost of their lives."

Hunter looked at each and every one of these grimwalkers, the numbers hazy in the dream, and felt a welling sense of kinship.

"Not to mention we all had similar tastes in partners," Caleb added, his smile growing cheeky.

"Similar tastes?" Hunter asked.

"Each of us was attracted to both sexes," Caleb said, his cheeks pinking at the admission. Hunter briefly thought about how such things were considered extremely taboo in Caleb's time. "But we leaned toward the fairer sex," Caleb said. "And each of us chose a lovely woman with a passionate spirit inside a caring heart with strong maternal instincts. And, as it turns out, a proclivity towards dark hair and talent in Plant magic."

Hunter's eyes widened at the description and he thought immediately of Willow.

"There it is," one of the Golden Guards said, his voice more gravelly than Hunter's. Hunter suddenly recognized him from Belos's memories in his fateful trip with Luz into his false uncle's mind, identified by the wide, ruff-style collar around his neck from the first memory of Belos "evangelizing" to the crowds of Bonesborough.

"We have seen your memories of Ms. Park," Caleb informed him. "And I must say, she reminds me much of my dearest Evelyn." He shrugged. "So do Eda and Lilith, but that makes sense. They are, after all, family."

"Wait, what?" Hunter asked.

"Ms. Park is kindhearted, strong, and stands firmly for what she believes in. She is powerful, but tender with that power. She loves deeply and fiercely, and will protect those she loves with every shred of strength she possesses," Caleb surmised. "And she is a natural mother, as I saw in Evelyn when she was with child." Caleb's smile turned sad, heartbreakingly sad, before he blinked and was … less sad?

"My girl was named Ivy," a Golden Guard with a deep hood and a tenor voice said. "She ran an orchard that supplied food to camps for wild witches. When we met, she snatched me out of the air and … simply asked me to leave her in peace before letting me go and walking away." He laughed brightly, slapping his knee. "Love at first tangle, we called it." He sighed. "Belos buried me for daring to fall in love."

"Mine was Ginger, an herbalist," said another Golden Guard, this one with shaggy hair and a wide scratch along one eye of his mask. "She found me in an alley, wounded from a fight with assassins. She took me to her shop and treated me, even knowing who I was." He curled in on himself a little. "She was so gentle, even as she asked about my other scars. And when I tried to pay her, she said that her payment would be me visiting regularly to check up on my wounds." He laughed sadly. "We fell in love … and Belos found out. I sent her into hiding, and I refused to tell him where. So he petrified me."

"And mine was named Mari, short for Marigold," said another Guard, this one with a smaller collar that Hunter recognized from Belos's memory of the Knee and the initial experiments with coven sigils. "She was the first witch to join the Emperor's Coven and survive the sigil. I confided in her and she always gave me good advice. We slowly realized together that Belos was up to no good, and we tried to stop him together. We died from his artificial magic, our hands in each others'."

Each story made Hunter feel more and more bittersweet. They had all fallen in love and defected from Belos. And they had all been killed for it. "What about the others?" Hunter asked. "There were lots more Golden Guards."

"Not all of them had the strength of personality to leave a deep mark," the Golden Guard with the wild hair said. "We all defied Belos, but it seems that only those of us who found connections outside the castle could remain imprinted on the galdorstone. The rest just kind of, uh, merged with us, deepening our own marks."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Hunter finally asked.

"Because Belos is gone," Caleb said. "You, Hunter Clawthorne, are the last of us. One with a chance to live your own life free of fear."

"So don't waste it, kid," the grimwalker with the ruff said.

"Live life with her to the fullest," the shaggy-haired one added.

"Because none of us got that chance," the deep-hooded one said. "And you, Hunter, have earned it as much as any of us."

Hunter felt himself about the cry when the fire began to die down, the skies above slowly brightening.

"You're waking up," Caleb said. The Golden Guards all stood and nodded to him before backing away to disappear into the fog. "Remember what you have heard, Hunter," Caleb said, rising to his feet as well. He stepped over the embers of the fire pit and placed his hands on Hunter's shoulders.

"I am so sorry I couldn't be there for you," he said solemnly. "But know this: your brothers and I will always be there to guide you." He lifted one hand and pressed it to Hunter's sternum. "Right here." He cupped Hunter's cheek and blinked slowly. "Good luck, son."

Hunter inhaled sharply as he arose from slumber. He sat up and rubbed his head, blinking rapidly as he played back that dream in his mind. Caleb was right; he remembered every detail. His lip wobbled at the thought of the previous Golden Guards — his brothers — never getting to be with the people they had loved.

"Hunter?" came a voice and a knock at the door of his basement bedroom in the Noceda home. Soft footsteps sounded and Willow emerged from the landing, dressed in a loose, emerald-green shirt and high-waisted jean shorts, strappy sandals completing the outfit. "Are you okay?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.

Hunter threw off his duvet and raced to wrap Willow in a hug, one that she did not hesitate to return. He felt the tears begin to fall as he held her even tighter.

"Not that I'm complaining," Willow said wryly, stepping a bit back to cup his face in her hands, "but what's all that about?"

"Just appreciating how lucky I am," Hunter said.

"Really?" Willow asked, her eyes glittering as her cheeks were tinged with pink.

"Yeah," he sighed, and kissed her palms. "Is breakfast ready?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded.

"Good," Hunter said, his smile turning coy. "Because I have a crazy dream to tell you about."

Day three, everybody! This was very experimental, but I just adore the premise.

*Unlike most who are following these prompts, I approached the theme of "Nature" in the sense of a person's nature, rather than the natural world. Here's hoping it's a fun approach!

*I've always liked the idea of the consciousnesses of other grimwalkers being inside Hunter's subconscious, like the Avatar State in "The Last Airbender" or One For All in "My Hero Academia." Here's a few ideas of their stories.

*All of the described Golden guards are based on one's from Belos's mind or the visions he had in "For the Future."

*All of the previous GGs' love interests have floral themed names, much like Willow. How could I not do that, hmm?

As always, I hope this was a fun read - more to come! Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!