"Well, it's complicated."
Hunter wasn't even sure where to start. Emrys/Merlin was a complicated thing he still didn't have all the answers for.
"Well uncomplicate it," Zekaj frowned.
"Heh, ok let me think of where to start," Hunter thought that the beginning was always the best.
"Well Max and AJ agreed with me that the best place to look for any sort of portal was the spirit world. So I went to the Institute for information and well I met this guy."
"GUY?!?!" Zekaj growled. "AJ AND MAX??!?!?"
"It's not like that! He's already mated, dude. And both of them have calmed down a lot and only wanted to help me! AJ and I even made up!"
Zekaj rolled his eyes and Hunter continued.
"He told me his name was Emrys Wyles and that he was an expert on the spirit world. Emrys was strange, almost like way too excited to talk about it. He pointed me in the proper direction and told me to check out the Lost City of Amet. I had suspicions but I was desperate. He helped me work through some of my pain though which was nice."
"I don't like him."
"Zekaj, shut up and let him finish," Zekai said, as he leaned forward in interest.
"Well after all of that I went to Wisconsin to get to Amet. I wandered the castle for a while and came to an entrance that was partially open but was a tight fit. Well, something spooked me and I dropped my flashlight. It rolled over to a set of armor in the corner of the room and I thought it was just an armor stand but it wasn't."
Zekaj squinted his eyes and frowned.
"It was the Pack Killer."
Zekaj stood up slamming his fits on the table.
"WHAT?" Zekaj yelled. "AND YOU RAN OUT OF THERE RIGHT?"
"Well I uh, kinda teamed up with him."
Zekaj facepalmed and slumped back into his seat as his brother tried to stifle his laughter. His parents motioned for Hunter to continue.
"I didn't have much of a choice, it was either do what he said or die." Hunter rubbed the back of his neck, remembering how PK had grabbed him by it. "We got in and there's this sword on a pedestal in the center of the room. Well, I touched it and saw a vision of sorts of the past. Basically, Amet is Camelot. Just some of the letters had faded on the outside of the building. I also saw the spirit world on fire and a spirit demon holding this guy, Arthur, and calling someone Lancelot. Well, we went exploring, found a key and I had visions again, this time I saw the same spirit demon turn into a human and it was Emrys. So Emrys is Merlin and basically, he's mated to Arthur who was the King of Camelot, and now that the sword, Excalibur, is inside the pedestal they have to wait for the king to pull it out for Camelot to return to its former glory. Merlin himself was the great wizard, mate to Arthur." Hunter breathed in after talking for so long.
"PK was there for these vials of something. Lancelot and Merlin had called them addictive and that Lancelot didn't like them or something. It was used to heal Arthur back up who I assume is up and running now. Emrys, or Merlin, made it sound like he was awake, so." Hunter shrugged.
"You gave the Pack Killer a nickname?" Zekaj frowned.
"Yeah," Hunter blushed. Zekaj huffed, rolling his eyes again.
"And this key opened the book?" Caroline asked.
"Yeah, the one Zekaj and I found at the Institute," Hunter assumed Zekaj had mentioned it to them. "I assume Merlin must have planted it there for us to find."
"How did he know we'd be there though?" Zekaj asked, his anger at Hunter teaming up with the Pack Killer fading.
"I assume he can see into the future or something like how I did with the past? He must have cast magic onto the objects to make me see into the past at certain moments."
"Makes sense," Zekai spoke up.
No one had noticed how quiet Aegon had been. He suddenly spoke up and the whole table looked at him.
"Excalibur. You are certain that's what they called it?"
"Yeah, one-hundred percent. It had detailed drawings in the book and everything."
Aegon stood up from his seat and started walking towards the door.
"Follow me," He said leaving the room.
The whole table got up and followed him as Caroline rushed forward and tried to ask him what he was doing.
Hunter wrapped his hands around Zekaj's arm again and leaned into him for support.
"Do you need me to carry you again?"
Hunter shook his head no, "I'm fine, just tired."
Zekaj gave him a small smile in response and squeezed their hands together. The two followed on with Zekai behind them.
After a bit of walking, Aegon had brought them to the throne room and up the steps to the throne. The throne room was the very first room Hunter had stepped foot in inside Castle Voidborne.
Its golden thrones sat vacant with black diamond jewels detailing the 4. Hunter assumed the grander one was for Aegon and the one next to it was Caroline's. Then the smaller ones on each side were for Zekaj and Zekai.
Between the two thrones attached to Aegon's was a weapon stand and inside it was a blade.
Aegon pulled the blade out and showed it to the group.
"The Primordial Blade of the Void. Given to my great-great-great, lots of greats, grandpa by the void himself thousands of years ago. One of the four Primordial Blades," Aegon said as the blade shined in his arms.
It was a long sword with a black metallic blade, the end of the blade itself almost faded into a pale gold crystal that dimly glowed. Reminiscent to the way their horns glowed. The handle was black as well with pale gold accents and at the ends were pale gold gems. The blade itself had etching on it that were runes but Hunter couldn't quite make them out. It was very similar to Excalibur.
"The Primordial Blade of the Inferno is long lost, it's presumed to be with the Son of the Inferno who was the bearer of the blade. He's been banished for thousands of years. The other two are thought to be lost as well." Aegon had said.
Handing the blade's hilt to Zekaj, he took the blade into his own hands. His father had let him hold it before but this time it felt like it belonged in his hands. Like it was simply an extension of his arm.
"When the time comes, with you married to your mate, Zekaj," Aegon looked over at Hunter before looking back at Zekaj. "You will take the throne and this blade."
"What does this have to do with anything," Zekaj asked.
"The Primordial Blade of the Spirit, otherwise known as Excalibur," Aegon said. Zekaj had moved it over so Hunter could see it and his fingers lightly brushed along the hilt.
"Merlin's spellbook had mentioned that Excalibur had sibling blades," Hunter mentioned.
"These blades were made by the primordials, they choose who will wield them. It already reacts to you as the Primordial Void chose you to wield it after me. Let's just say if you weren't chosen to wield the blade, your death will be very quick and painful."
Zekaj slowly retracted the blade away from Hunter who also quickly pulled away his hand.
"How do you know about all of this?" Zekai asked. "The books I've read have never called the spirit Primordial Blade Excalibur."
"My grandpa told me it hundreds of years ago. My father always told me it was just nonsense."
"What else did he tell you?" Zekai asked.
"That was it really, he always said he had more to say but it was like the memories were being taken from him," Aegon answered.
"I'm pretty sure Merlin cast some sort of spell that kept people from remembering much about Camelot to keep it safe. It'd make sense why no one can seem to remember much about it besides things that had been written down and twisted and turned as time went on," Hunter said.
"That had to be what happened. If Merlin is this great and powerful mage he definitely could've erased knowledge from books across the realms too," Caroline spoke up. "Leaving the only word of mouth and later writings that wouldn't have been affected by his spell."
"What about the fourth one? The fourth blade." Zekaj asked.
"That one was a dull one made with the remaining metal from the three previous ones. I have no idea where it is," Aegon said.
Hunter realized he knew where it was, or at least who had it. He had seen it in his visions.
"Merlin, Arthur, and Lancelot have it. In the vision, I saw Excalibur unfuze with it and be put back into its pedestal by Merlin. Merlin then kept the other blade with himself. That has to be it right?"
"Makes sense too," Zekai said from his throne. "Probably kept it because even though it's dull, it'd still be powerful."
"What other secrets does that book of yours hold Hunter?" Aegon asked Hunter, staring him down.
"Uhm," Hunter said. "It had spells. Ones I didn't think were possible like making you invisible and soundproof. And even instructions on how to open a portal to Hell."
"Hmm," Aegon said as the group walked back to the dining room.
"We tried to read from your book but it was invisible to us, except for Zekaj," Caroline said.
"You couldn't see any of it?" Hunter asked.
"Nope, only Zekaj could."
"Strange," Hunter said as Zekaj pulled him back into the seat in the dining hall.
"I have a theory," Aegon said, staring up at the family painting.
"What is it?" Zekaj asked.
"I believe Hunter is the next Great Wizard and you, Zekaj, are his protector."
"What?" Hunter said. "No but Merlin is a Spirit Demon and I'm human?"
"But wouldn't that make me the next king?" Zekaj asked.
"No, you are already destined to be King of the Void. The great spirit wouldn't choose you to be King of the Spirit World as well."
Zekaj nodded in agreement and relief flooded through his system. It wasn't like he wanted to be king over a realm he didn't even know.
"Hunter, I've been meaning to ask, but there hasn't been a proper time," Caroline said. "I was wondering if you would let me test your blood."
"What? Why?" Hunter asked.
"Mom..." Zekaj said sternly, knowing what direction this was going.
"We have a theory that you aren't 100% human. It doesn't make sense why you, a human, could have demonic runes."
"I look like my dad. There's no way he isn't my parent." Hunter said. This was stupid to him, there was no way he wasn't human. Hunter rubbed his hands along Zekaj's arms, the anxious feeling in him growing.
"Mom he's human no if and or buts," Zekaj said, getting annoyed that his mate was uncomfortable.
"Hunter, what I'm asking is, if you'd let me, I'd like to do some tests on your DNA. We can put this to rest once and for all. It's your choice, you can say yes or no. And you are welcome to change your mind whenever you want"
"Mom for fucks sake I said no," Zekaj growled.
Hunter could hear the anger in Zekaj's voice and knew he wouldn't normally talk to his mom like this. It was just his possessiveness coming to the surface. He was overprotective of his mate and didn't want any harm to come to him ever again.
Caroline knew this and wasn't going to be mad at Zekaj for thrashing out. It was normal for a demon to act like this with their mate.
"Zekaj maybe we should just," Hunter said, he still wasn't sure if he wanted to. Maybe it'd be worth it to just put this theory to rest. There was no way he was not human.
"Maybe. I'll think about it," Hunter whispered.
"Anything you want babe," Zekaj suddenly calmed down and pressed his lips to Hunter's neck.
"Sounds good, no pressure or anything," Caroline smiled.
Everyone at the table got up and went their separate ways. Aegon quietly put his arm around his wife and Zekai went off alone to the library.
Zekaj had picked Hunter up in his arms and carried him back to their room. It was barely even two minutes since they had left the dining hall that Hunter had fallen asleep in his arms.
A/N:
Very much just a lore dump and a recap for people that forgot told by Hunter as quickly as he could. We now know some more about Excalibur, the Primordial Blades, Etc.
The Team has also come to the conclusion that Hunter is the next Great Wizard and Zekaj his protector since he is the future King of the Void. Do you agree with this theory? Why or why not?
But if the next King isn't Zekaj? Who is?
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