Goal 2 and Bonus goal have been reached. Book 2 announcement later today... ty all so much!
-mek <3
"How do you know it's us? Especially me?" Zekai asked. He so far had nothing to do with any of this. It was only by association that he was involved.
"The table has a set amount of seats and each part of the table has a marking representing each person at the table. Was the same for us when we first started out and now the table has changed again, representing a new court of Camelot is coming," Arthur explained.
"You have the two spots that are always the same, the King or Queen, and the Great Mage," Merlin added.
"Hunter's obviously the great mage, that's the only seat we're sure of.
Then there's the symbol of the void that could be Zekaj or Zekai. Then others like a 4 eyed demon, a bear, Paranormal imagery that makes it hard to narrow it down to just anyone," Arthur explained. "We're going off guesses right now, we won't know who exactly will sit in each spot until the future king pulls out Excalibur."
"So it could be any of us?" Zekai said. "Really?"
"Definitely Hunter and Zekaj," Merlin shrugged. "Maybe you, then around 10 more seats of people we need to figure out. Thirteen seats in total."
"That sure narrows it down," Zekaj frowned.
"Shouldn't be too hard," Merlin smiled, not noticing Zekaj's sarcasm. "We just have to find whoever the king is and then it'll be instinct to him."
"Well, we don't have to find out who the king is ourselves. Just wait for fate to run its course and they will pull the sword out and alert us," Arthur shrugged. "No use hunting them down but they will be naturally attracted to Camelot and Excalibur. So we just need to keep watch around the town the portal is currently in."
"What was it like when you pulled the sword out?" Hunter asked Arthur.
"Well, my father didn't want me to. You see, I was born a human from a human mother, but I had a demon father. My father wasn't happy about this and was sure I wasn't his kid. So for the longest time, he refused for me to even attempt to pull out the sword. Until Merlin convinced me to go behind his back and try. I had wanted to but I never felt a necessary need to." Merlin smiled at his name being said and put an arm back around Arthur. The two had finally sat back down and the room followed suit. "My father was convinced a human couldn't pull it out until I did."
"And then a lot of other stuff happened and now it's trauma. But the worst days are behind us," Merlin grinned looking at Arthur. "Only good things now."
Arthur said nothing, only giving Merlin a small smile before looking back at his feet.
"I do apologize for not doing anything to help you guys get back together sooner," Arthur said. "It was hard to see how much the separation was hurting you two."
"Thank you," Hunter smiled.
"Fuck you both," Zekaj frowned.
Hunter elbowed him and Zekaj only huffed.
"Whatever, thanks for teaching us a lesson or whatever the fuck," Zekaj rolled his eyes.
"Wait, how much exactly were you stalking us?" Hunter said, coming to a realization that he had never seen Arthur, but he had implied that he had seen Hunter.
"Well, we were with you in the library and Camelot. Then that was really it, besides us checking in on you an hour ago and a couple of times before that." Arthur answered.
"Don't forget the time we went searching for them the first time," Lancelot spoke up.
"Oh yeah!" Merlin said. "We did that."
"Wait, Both of you were in the library that time?" Hunter's eyes went wide. He thought only Merlin was there with him teaching him about Amet.
"Yep, Do you not remember when I was injured by a ghost? It was Arthur kicking me for calling him short." Merlin laughed.
Hunter had remembered Merlin yelping suddenly in the private section of the library, though he thought he had hit his leg on the table or something. He hadn't thought of it that much.
"Those were good times, remember when your dad thought we were dating?" Merlin chuckled, reminiscing the good ole days.
"No," Zekaj stated and quickly put an end to that conversation. "And let's keep that in the past."
"I agree," Arthur mumbled.
"There was also when we staked outside your home to get a look at you two, but that's not important," Merlin waved it off.
"You as an apology for trespassing will show us protections from keeping this invisibility and stuff from being able to work in our home," Aegon demanded, his home had been infiltrated, it didn't matter that there were good intentions. Castle Voidborne was his family's home and he'd be damned if they didn't feel safe in it.
"Yeah no problem, will be a good teaching moment for Hunter!" Merlin smiled. "I have so much stuff I can't wait to teach you!"
Merlin was giddy with the idea. He had been taught by his predecessor and now he has to do the same!
"Our spellbook has so much information in it and spells that only we can perform!"
"That brings me to another question," Caroline sat up. "Why can't we see in the book if we can't perform the spells?"
"Why not basically. Keeps the information to ourselves especially some of the more dangerous stuff that others could perform," Merlin explained. "And It's nice to keep some stuff private between us all."
"What like the primordial void and spirit are fucking?" Hunter muttered.
"Yes," Merlin stated. "And they aren't fucking. They're dating."
"Can you please stop with that nonsense?" Lancelot spoke up from the side of the room, he had moved over and was now staring out the window.
"No! I won't until I can prove it. There was no reason for him to be in the Allfather's space! Why was he there taking care of him after Uther assaulted him?" Merlin tried to explain himself but Lancelot was having none of it.
"And we're just supposed to believe this? After you were distraught you probably just misunderstood the situation." Lancelot said coldly from the window.
"I know what I saw!" Merlin groaned, throwing his head back. "None of you understand."
"Was it common for Spirit Demons to be mated to humans back when Camelot was active?" Hunter changed the subject.
"It used to be pretty common for demons and humans, in general, to be mated, but since no one is there to open portals for casual crossing well, it became impossible for a bond to connect since they can't touch to activate the bond," Merlin said. "Town square used to have a portal to both Hell and Earth. They've since closed and now are only legends."
Volveth glanced over at Jaxon sitting by him. Was there a chance that was the reason they weren't mates?
"So we can keep portals like that open by themselves?" Hunter asked Merlin.
"Yep, once you get used to opening one for a short amount of time-" Merlin was cut off.
"Without sending hellquakes throughout the rings," Zekaj snickered at his own mate. Hunter shot daggers at Zekaj who only grinned with smugness.
"Merlin did it all of the time when he first started out too," Arthur said. "When he did the activation ritual I swore the tower itself was going to collapse."
"I would've fixed it," Merlin frowned, crossing his arms.
"Is it tradition for you guys to cause destruction with this beginning ritual?" Jaxon asked, remembering the time Hunter nearly caused a cave in.
"Yes," Merlin smiled, ending the conversation bluntly.
The room went silent for a bit until Aegon spoke up again.
"Anything else we should know?" He asked. They had already gained answers to so many questions but Aegon did not want to be blindsided by anything else.
Merlin looked at Arthur who only shrugged, then back at Lancelot who was still just looking out the window. Nothing was coming to his mind but he wouldn't be surprised if he was missing something. He had a tendency to forget a lot, it wasn't his fault, there was a lot on his mind at all times and he was always excited about everything.
Arthur sat up straight as something came to mind.
"If you are ok with it, we need a place to stay until our home is-" Arthur began to say.
"Not hundreds of feet underground?" Zekaj butted in.
"Yes. We simply only need two rooms. Merlin and I can share and then one for Lancelot."
"I don't plan on staying," Lancelot suddenly spoke up from the back of the room. "I do not require a room."
"Lance, please stay," Merlin pleaded. "You can't keep running around Earth doing god knows what!"
"What am I supposed to do?" Lancelot snarled. "I have nothing!"
Lancelot began to march out of the room and Merlin quickly followed with Arthur at his side. Soon both Zekaj and Hunter were following as the others began talking amongst themselves.
"You have us!" Merlin was now at Lance's side trying to keep up. "We have to stick together."
"I'm fine on my own," Lancelot said. "I've snuck out of Camelot multiple times without you waking up and I was fine then."
"You left?" Merlin shrieked. "Humans are vicious nowadays, you could've been killed! Have you seen the scary shit they have invented? They literally have death machines riding around everywhere! Were horses not enough for them? They just had to go faster?"
"Wouldn't have been the worst thing to happen to me," Lancelot mumbled.
Merlin hopped in front of Lancelot and held him back by placing his arms on his shoulders. Lancelot was very strong and Merlin was slowly pushed along the corridor.
"Please just stay here, you can run around Earth as much as you want but you have to come back every now and then," Merlin said with puppy dog eyes.
Lancelot came to a stop and sighed, annoyed.
"Fine, whatever it takes to get you to stop bitching," Lancelot grumbled.
Merlin cheered and pulled Lancelot into a hug, when he saw Arthur behind them with Zekaj and Hunter following suit he suddenly became concerned.
"We can have the rooms right?" He asked.
"No," Zekaj said.
"Yes," Hunter said.
"I'll take the yes instead of the no," Merlin smiled. "We don't have a lot, we really need to set up accounts and stuff. Can you show us?"
"My father set all of my stuff up, he could maybe help?" Hunter suggested.
"Sounds good with me," Merlin said, fighting Lancelot who was trying to break apart the hug. Merlin held on for dear life as it wasn't common he got to hug Lancelot. He enjoyed hugs, Lancelot hated them. Of course, Arthur loved his hugs considering they were mates.
"Please stop hugging me," Lancelot groaned.
"Never," Merlin smiled as Arthur hugged Lancelot from behind.
"I hate both of you so much."
"No you don't," Merlin laughed.
Hunter only watched the two spirit demons and human embrace each other. It was cute how close the three were still, even after their hardships.
Slowly he felt two large arms wrap around his waist as Zekaj rested his head on his shoulder.
It was then that Hunter felt the most relaxed, calm, and stress-free.
"Everything's going to be ok," Hunter whispered.
Zekaj kissed his jaw, whispering, "Everything's going to be ok."
2 Chapters Remain...