The silver key slipped from Hunter's fingers and the sharp ding filled the otherwise silent room.
Emrys.
The man he met at the Institute was a Spirit Demon.
Sure something felt off about the man but this? This he didn't expect.
Emrys was an over one thousand-year-old demon. Of a species that was supposed to be extinct but actually wasn't. They were all just sleeping. Hundreds of feet in the ground to be exact.
So if Emrys was around again, that must have meant Arthur had been healed? That meant they were looking for the king then.
Well PK had tried to pull it out and failed. And Hunter "attempted" too, so who was the king?
Was the king even alive yet?
Hunter looked around the darkroom and saw that PK was nowhere to be found. Leaning down, Hunter picked up the key from the floor and slipped it into his pocket. Maybe it unlocked something in the castle?
It felt like this was all planned. That fate meant for him to come to Amet and find all of this. Emrys too had pushed for him to go to Amet.
Emrys or Merlin. Whatever. Hunter didn't know what to call him now. Did he prefer one or the other?
Hunter shined the flashlight around the room and saw a door had been opened. PK must have gone further into these hidden rooms. Walking into the tunnel, Hunter continued to think to himself.
Emrys had wanted him to go to Amet/Camelot and see all of this. Why? Did he know of his current struggles? Was he trying to show him how to get to Zekaj? Was the way to Hell here?
Hunter wasn't sure where else to look. So much of the castle was blocked off even with him being in the otherwise locked-off parts.
Hunter didn't realize when the hallway ended and another room began.
His light shined across the room before falling onto the large body of PK in the corner.
PK was holding some sort of vial of glowing magenta liquid. Hunter slowly walked over to him, not trying to startle him.
It was no use when PK quickly turned to stare at him from the corner of his eyes. His thumb slowly hovered over the top of the vial, before pressing down exposing a needle at the bottom.
Before Hunter could react, the needle became logged into PK's thigh, emptying its contents into himself.
Electricity, ranging from purples and blues, rippled throughout his body, causing low growls and twitching. Hunter watched on as PK's glowing white eyes darkened to red. Pk quickly closed his eyes and all Hunter could see was the deep void, with flashes of electricity darting across his face.
The leather strained against his bulging muscles as the electricity took over him. Was this what he wanted?
The electricity slowly subsided, and Hunter just watched him. His eyes were still closed and he sat there motionless, only the heavy breathing from PK could be heard in the otherwise silent room.
PK's whole body was shaking heavily in reaction to whatever entered his body. The Pack Killer's tight grip on the vial became too much as the glass smashed into pieces.
Hunter slowly stepped back away from the Pack Killer, bumping into a large object that was in his way.
His glowing white eyes suddenly opened and were staring at Hunter. The Pack Killer grasped the box of more vials and suddenly vanished in a purple static.
PK stood up from his spot, visibly still shaking a bit.
"What that?" PK pointed at the thing Hunter ran into. His voice too was quiet and trembley.
Hunter just stared at him, his mind going a mile a minute. Was he trying to change the subject?
"Are you ok?" Hunter asked.
PK stared at him like he was stupid. Or at least that's what Hunter felt like his face looked like. It was hard to judge his emotion with only two glowing eyes surrounded by darkness.
It felt like PK was surprised too. Like his emotions radiated off him in some sort of way. Had no one ever asked PK if he was ok?
"Fine," PK said after a moment of silence.
Hunter didn't dare to push for more info. PK seemed fine, but to be fair, Hunter didn't really know.
PK examined the contraption in the middle of the room and Hunter shined his flashlight on it for himself.
It was some sort of vessel, with a clear glass door. It was a cylinder tube Hunter inched his hand towards the glass and as his fingers touched the cold surface, reality flickered away.
Hunter was standing in the same room, just dimly lit in comparison to Hunter's flashlight being the only source of light. In came Emrys and Lancelot holding a still unconscious Arthur.
The glass cylinder machine suddenly opened as the two entered the room. Hunter backed up out of the way as he watched Emrys's eyes linger on him for a couple seconds.
"How long will it take?" Lancelot asked. "For him to heal?"
Merlin laid Arthur down in the machine and closed the glass door. The machine powered on, its light blue glow brightened up the room.
"Decades, Centuries, a millennium?" Merlin said. "I don't know."
Merlin pushed some buttons on the screen of the machine and talked to Lancelot at the same time.
"His soul was badly damaged and he's only human, it could take who knows how long." Merlin softly touched the glass of the machine his mate was laying in.
"So we'll stand guard then, right? Hibernate and check up on him every now and then and make sure no one tries to hurt him."
"Yes," Merlin said. "Arthur will wake up and then the cycle of the Ruler of the Spirit World and the Great Wizard begins again."
Lancelot sat down on a cot in the back of the room and began yawning. He watched on as he pulled out a small vial of magenta liquid from a box in the corner of the room.
"Woah Woah Woah, you can't give him that!" Lancelot exclaimed.
"The Healer runs on this stuff and if given very slowly its addictive properties are basically nonexistent."
"Alright," Lancelot said, unsure if it was still the right call.
"I know how you feel about this stuff, but trust me, it's all we got."
Reality flickered away again as Hunter opened his eyes to PK staring at him really closely.
"Why touch long time again?" PK asked.
"Doesn't matter," Hunter said.
Hunter walked over to the two cots in the corner of the room. Merlin and Lancelot must have hibernated in these waiting for Arthur to heal.
Now that Arthur was obviously healthy, that meant that The Grand Wizard and the King of the Spirit World had been born.
Hunter sat down on the cot and propped his head up on the wall. The bond was starting to make itself known again. Its constant pains and tugging were easy to ignore when the Pack Killer was around you at every moment freaking you out.
But as he got to know PK more. He seemed to be a lot more juvenile than some adult mass murderer like everyone made him out to be.
Hunter scratched at his chest as PK started to sit down at the other cot. His glowing white eyes burned a hole into his chest as he watched Hunter try to ignore the pain.
The Pack Killer rummaged in one of his jacket's coat pockets and pulled out a tiny vial of red liquid and handed it to Hunter.
"What is this?" Hunter asked.
"Health," PK said.
Hunter assumed it must have been some sort of Health potion. Handing it back, Hunter said he was good.
PK put it back in his pocket.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Hunter asked. PK turned towards him again.
"You no wolf."
"But I'm a mage, I'm paranormal."
"No wolf."
"What's so bad about wolves?" Hunter asked. Sure he had a problem with AJ in the past, but he's fine now.
"Wolf kill, hurt child," PK said abruptly.
"You do the same though?" Hunter said, testing his limits.
PK growled as his eyes glowed dark red. "Wolf. Bad."
"Sorry," Hunter raised his arms up in self-defense. He wasn't going to push it anymore.
Hunter drank some tea from his thermos and slowly dozed off to the silence of the Spirit World.
His dreams were full of the pale gold eyes that he missed dearly.
*****
Hours later, Hunter woke up to his phone ringing in his pocket. Drowsily, he answered it and his dad spoke up.
"Hey, I'm almost home, bringing home supper so don't cook anything," Jaxon said on the other side.
"A-alright uh," Hunter stood up quickly realizing he was still in the spirit world. "I'll see you then."
"Bye kid, love you." Jaxon hung up the phone and Hunter threw his book bag back on.
PK sat and watched him from the cot he sat in.
"I've gotta go, uh."
Standing up the Pack Killer headed out of the room. Hunter followed along.
Soon they were back at the entrance to the underground part of Amet/Camelot.
PK easily had the door open compared to how long it took Hunter. The two booked it through trying not to get smashed as the doors slammed shut.
"Uhm, stay safe PK. Remember what I told you," Hunter quickly left the room, turning back to see PK standing there watching him like he was confused about what Hunter meant again.
Hunter rushed into the shadows hoping he could go from the spirit world to the overworld.
Pushing through the freezing cold Hunter suddenly burst into the real world into his bed.
He breathed heavily as the jump took out a lot of his energy. The sharp pains of the bond pierced his skin and caused irritating pain all over him.
Hunter just slipped off his book bag and stared at the ceiling, trying to take in everything he learned in Camelot.
A/N:
Thanks for a wonderful 50 chapters! <3 It's been such a blessing for all of your support the past year.
As we move on to the final part of HTTAD. It felt like the cover could use some minor tweaks. Hope you enjoy it. Some hints at what to come can be interpred from it. So that leads to my question for this chapter?
What comes next?
Thank you,-MEK