; to the golden guard ღ

Chapter One

That evening was quiet, a lot quieter than usual. Edric found it calming.

The teenager was sat on the ground, leaned against the fallen log of a tree while his twin sister, Emira, sat beside him, except she was actually sat on the log. Their younger sister, Amity, (or Mittens, as they liked to call her), was with them as well, along with her girlfriend. It was originally supposed to just be the couple, but the twins naturally decided to tag along. Was it to annoy/embarrass their sister? Yes, yes absolutely, and they had done so many times that night.

Things were quieting down now though, the twins had their fun and the group were now focused on just enjoying the night. Luz had used a fire glyph to set up a nice campfire, which the group had huddled close to in order to keep warm.

The sky was as beautiful as it usually was in the Boiling Isles, a mix of different purples and stars as far as the eye could see. The sky in the Human Realm was nowhere near as beautiful as this. Luz would personally compare the sky here to those images you would find on Google when you'd type in "space background" or something similar. But this was the real thing.

The human sighed contentedly, turning to face the witch beside her. She reached over and gently took some of the purple strands of hair, twirling them slowly around her finger.

"You know, the sky is almost as beautiful as you." She muttered softly, smiling. Amity's face, as to be expected by now, turned bright red. "Luz—" She turned away in attempt to hide her growing grin, "You're... beautiful, too." It came out in a whisper, but Luz heard her just fine.

"Awwwee!" Emira sat up straight and cupped her own face in her hands, "You guys are so... cheesy." She teased, but it was clear that she was genuinely happy for the two. "Psh, well..." Amity turned her head again and gave a small pout, "... Maybe I like cheese."

The group shared a small laugh at that before Edric decided to speak up. "Honestly, Mittens, I'm not sure what I expected your type to be, but I can safely say that I didn't expect it to be dorky human girls."

"Woah now, hotshot." Emira hit the boy lightly, "Say what you want, but at least Mittens is actually getting people to date her."

"Low blow, Em." Edric huffed, crossing his arms. He hated to admit that it was true, a lot of the witches he'd asked out recently had turned him down. "Speaking of which," His twin continued, "What is your type, Ed? I mean, I know there was that one person... What did you say happened with them?" A devilish grin spread across her face. Ed groaned.

"They bailed on our date because I was apparently 'too loud and annoying'." He recalled, looking down at his feet. He also remembered them saying he was creepy, since he knew a bit more about them than they'd originally told him. He suspected that may have been the real reason for them dumping him, but he chose to leave out that detail.

Yes, he had cyber-stalked them a little bit before meeting with them, but he never intended for it to come off as creepy. When he became interested in someone, he wanted to know more about them. As much as he could. All of the stuff was already publicly online for anyone to see, so he really did nothing wrong by looking at it, right? Though, he did understand why that may freak someone out. I should work on that, He thought.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a hand waving in front of his face. "Helloooo? Demon Realm to Edric?" Emira moved her hand away when she had the twin's attention again, "You didn't answer my question."

"Eh?"

"What's your type? I honestly can't tell."

"Oh... Uhh..." Edric thought for a moment. What was his type? "I'm not sure... I guess it just depends on the person...?" He shrugged, "I mean... I think I like when they're a bit of a challenge. Hard to get, tough exterior. It feels so much more rewarding when I finally make my way into their cold, dead heart!" Edric dramatically gripped the side of his chest where his heart was, using one of his fingers to imitate a tear falling down his cheek.

Emira smiled a little and rolled her eyes, "So what you're saying is, you like when your love interest hates you?"

"Exactly!" Edric turned to her and paused, "Okay, well— Hate is a strong word. I like when they act like they hate me. But I know deep down they want me." He crossed his arms smugly.

"Riiiiight... Anything else? Perhaps more normal?"

Edric pouted, "Well, yeah, I like the regular stuff... But that's so boring! I want something intense! Like... I'm a criminal who keeps slipping through the fingers of the authority— The authority would be said love interest, by the way, and then they finally catch me and then we KISS!"

Emira just stared at him, deadpan. "You're a lost cause," She said.

Luz, who had been listening in on their conversation the entire time, turned her head and piped up. "You know, Ed, what you're describing sounds weirdly like The Golden Guard." She commented, half jokingly with a giggle. Amity silently agreed with a nod of her head.

"They have a point," Emira turned to look at him again, "But you wouldn't go after that guy, right? I know we love messing with the coven scouts but I hear he's... different."

Edric blinked and pondered. The Golden Guard? He had heard that name before. Even seen posters of him scattered around The Market Place in Bonesborough. He even recalled Luz talking about an encounter with him recently, but admittedly he wasn't paying much attention to the story at the time. He silently regretted that.

"Hah, of course I wouldn't." He finally replied.