♪♫❝ ᵀᵘʳⁿ ᵒᶠᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ˡⁱᵍʰᵗˢ
ˢⁱᵗ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵐʸ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰᵗˢ
ᴮᵉⁱⁿᵍ ᵃˡᵒⁿᵉ ⁱˢ ᵗʰᵉ ˡᵃˢᵗ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᴵ'ᵈ ᶠᵉᵃʳ
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ᴾᵘᵗ ᵘᵖ ᵃ ʷᵃˡˡ
ᴴᵒᵖᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵃ ᶜᵃˡˡ
ᴺᵒ ᵒⁿᵉ ᶜᵃⁿ ʰᵉᵃʳ ʸᵒᵘ ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ˢⁱˡᵉⁿᵗˡʸ ᶠᵉᵉˡⁱⁿᵍ ❞♪♫
— 𝙳𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝙴𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 ʙʏ 𝙹𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚑
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˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 just say?!"
"Can you repeat that again!?"
The two teenagers looked at the head of the abomination coven with shock.
The older purple-haired witch sighed and repeated his words. "For Titan's sake, I'm asking you to run an errand together, not hug each other."
Darius Deamonne had summoned Hunter and Annika to his office to discuss a mission he had wanted to assign them. However, they did not expect to work together on this mission.
"There's no way in hell I'm going out with him." The girl sneered.
The boy crossed his arms. "I work alone, Darius. And there's no way I'm working with a bratty princess like her."
Annika scoffed. "Well, at least I'm not a kiss-up."
Hunter's face turned beet red at her retort.
"And this is partially the reason why I'm asking you two to work together," Darius spoke over the two teens before chaos ensued.
"Can't you just send someone else to get this 'Sword of Cthulu'? Or assign the task to one of us?" Annika asked.
"Yeah, I have better things to do than babysit a talentless witch," Hunter remarked.
"Okay, now you're just describing yourself."
"Why you-"
"Enough!" Darius raised his voice which managed to silence the bickering teenagers for now. "Listen, I'm not hoping for the two of you to hold hands and become good friends; all I want is for you to bear one another's existence without strangling each other for two seconds!"
The two teen witches glanced at one another with dread.
Darius continued. "And the reason why I'm asking you two to get the Sword of Cthulu is because this mission could give you a chance to get along with one another."
Annika put a hand on her hip. "I don't know; I think I do a good job ignoring this shithead." She gestured her head at Hunter.
The older witch went to stand between the two teenagers before the blonde could start throwing hands, and all hell would break loose.
"Let me put it this way, if you two can't find common ground with one another when trouble is at its finest, then how do you expect to protect or help the people of the Boiling Isles during a crisis when you two can't stand each other breathing." The older witch let his frustration spill.
The two looked away from Darius' gaze with shame before Annika raised a brow.
"Don't you think that's a bit dramatic, Darius?" The girl queried.
"Perhaps, but have I made my point clear to you two?"
The blonde nodded while the brunette responded with a small "yes."
"Now," the older witch spoke. "The Sword of Cthulu should be on top of The Knee, hidden in a cave."
"Could you define which exact cave we're supposed to look for?" Annika asked.
"That's the thing; no one's sure about the sword's exact location."
"So, we're supposed to go to the top of The Knee and search all the caves in the area until we find this sword." The girl squinted her eyes at the older witch. "What's the catch?"
Darius shot her a questioning look. "Catch?"
"Well, as I learned from... many things, nothing is that easy to achieve unless there's a trap lurking in the shadows," Annika replied.
"Well-" Darius began but was soon interrupted by one of the teenagers.
"As much as I hate to admit this, she's right. There's no way that sword is easy to get; that is, if you don't count the many snow beasts that lurk at The Knee." Hunter commented.
"If you weren't bickering at my every word, you would've left a few hours ago!" Darius let out a snarky remark.
When the two were quiet once more, Darius continued. "When you find the sword, it's important for you two to know that it will suck up any magic used against it."
The two nodded at this piece of information.
"And one last thing before you leave." The purple-haired witch put his hands on the teenagers' shoulders. "No matter what you do, please be careful."
Annika noticed the worry in Darius' eyes; they nodded before walking to their rooms.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Hunter was in his room alone with his thoughts, packing the appropriate clothing for The Knee. He couldn't believe that Darius would try to make him and Annika work together; it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard in his entire life.
If he was going on a mission, then he would have preferred to go alone, and it was bad enough that Annika was the one who was coming with him. Hunter knew that if he were teaming up with the girl, she would judge everything he did the whole time. And that was the last thing he wanted. The blonde hoped that, at the very least, she wouldn't get in his way tomorrow.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Annika didn't know if it was bad luck or some form of karma when Darius had asked her to team up with Hunter for a mission. She knew full well that they would end up killing each other before reaching The Knee. She was also sure that Darius knew this but chose to ignore the obvious signs.
Annika sighed as she packed a few essentials into a bag and dressed with clothes fit for The Knee the next day.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"Please tell me we have a way up there." Annika moaned when the two teens reached their destination.
Hunter ignored her and sat on his staff. If this was his chance to ditch the brunette, then this was the perfect chance. Unfortunately for him, Annika noticed.
"Not so fast, bucko!" She put a hand on his shoulder and climbed his staff, making sure he wasn't about to leave her behind.
Hunter let out a small but frustrated sigh before he soared them both up to the sky.
"Don't you think wearing that mask is unnecessary for this mission?" Annika questioned.
"Since when did you become the expert on what to wear on missions?" He retaliated.
"Well, last time I checked," She started and then proceeded to shout as loud as she could. "No one's here!"
Hunter immediately shushed her before Annika could cause an actual avalanche.
He glared at her. "Are you trying to get us killed?"
"Sorry." She muttered.
They were both silent for the rest of the ride; when Hunter landed them both at the top of The Knee, Annika spoke. "We should probably split up; that way, we can cover more ground. When either of us finds the sword, we send a signal that we can see from our possible location."
Hunter was a bit taken aback at the brunette's words before he internally groaned; of course, she had to be an annoying know-it-all.
"Fine, then our signal will be the Emperor's sigil." Hunter decided.
"Yeah, we're not doing that," Annika said as a matter of factly.
"And why not?"
"Well, if you're trying to attract criminals or wild witches that will wonder what the Emperor's coven is doing and try to interfere with the mission, then be my guest." She continued. "Is what I'd usually say, but I'm too tired to fight with anyone, so I say we do a triangle with a line in the middle instead of the Emperor's sigil."
"Fine," Hunter grumbled as he walked away from Annika to begin his search for the sword.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Time passed by rather slowly for the two teenagers. They've been wandering from cave to cave only to find no sword that looked similar to the descriptions they'd been given.
Hunter entered another cave; even though it felt like he'd been searching for hours, the blonde was unwilling to give up. He was determined to find the sword to prove himself useful to his uncle and that he was more capable than Annika.
Hunter could feel the cold air under his thick winter coat, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. The moment he entered the cave, the blonde felt extreme discomfort as his heart began to pound faster and faster. But the boy brushed it off as he told himself he had nothing to fear. After all, he was the Golden Guard with a capable artificial staff; no one would dare to mess with him.
Luckily, no one was around to see Hunter freak out occasionally about things that he thought would attack him, only to find out they were inanimate objects.
The blonde made another turn within the cave's pathway when he finally found a turquoise sword that looked relatively close to streaming water with carvings of many tentacles. Hunter gloated when he knew that this was it. He had found the Sword of Cthulu.
But when he was about to get close to the sword, he found himself face to face with... the Emperor?
Hunter raised a brow in confusion. "Uncle Belos?"
The Emperor stood there silently with a specific posture that made him look frozen. Inanimate.
"What are you doing here?" The blonde pressed on.
After a long pause, Emperor Belos finally spoke. "I'm sorry, Hunter, but I'm afraid you're no use to me any longer."
The following happened in a blur for the boy because the next thing he knew was that Emperor Belos was raising his fist, which began to turn into a dark green mush that was big enough to pound the blonde down.
When the following happened, his body seemed to have frozen at this moment, so all he could do was close his eyes and embrace the pain that was about to come to him. But instead of feeling someone pressing on his chest, Hunter realized he was being pushed by someone who landed on top of him.
The boy opened his eyes to find Annika on top of him, which made his eyes widen.
"Are you okay?" The girl asked in a worried voice.
If the situation wasn't as life-threatening, The blonde would've interrogated Annika and asked her how she had found him without him sending out the signal they agreed upon, but he had other things to focus on.
"Hunter, get up!" The brunette said with urgency as she quickly hoisted herself up and forcibly lifted his body off the ground.
The blonde complied with the girl's command, took her wrist, and dodged his uncle's next hit just in time.
"What's going on? How did this happen?" Annika quickly inquired.
"I don't know." He replied honestly.
But an eerie voice came out within the cave before either could open their mouths.
"Annika..." The voice called.
Hunter noticed the girl froze at her name.
"Annika..." The voice repeated.
"Who are you? Show yourselves!" The boy managed to speak and tried to sound more threatening. Key word tried.
"This is your fault, Annika!" The voice spoke louder.
Annika tripped on air. She seemed too focused on the voice because only he noticed Belos approaching them as he began to change to a terrifying form, so Hunter used his staff on Belos when he saw that the Emperor was about to pound them both to nothing.
Annika was snapped out of her shock and fear when she noticed a red light shining bright next to her and realized what Hunter was about to do.
"NO!" She yelled, but her reaction was too late because when the blonde used his staff, it completely shut down and was now deemed useless to him.
Before they knew it, they were thrust hard onto the icy wall. Hunter groaned in pain while the girl seemed unfazed as more eerie voices started calling Annika's name, who quickly hoisted herself up again.
"We have to leave now!" She urged him.
Hunter glanced toward where he once saw the sword and back to Annika. "But what about the sword?"
The brunette shook her head. "Forget about that!" And proceeded to push him to the cave's exit.
"But-" Hunter started but was cut off by Annika.
"GO!"
The blonde stopped trying and complied with the girl, and they both started sprinting out of the cave as fast as they could before Belos' horrifying form and the eerie voices could catch up to them.
The two teenagers ran and hid away from the cave's entrance as they collected their thoughts.
Hunter took off his mask, feeling like he was choking. He tried to calm himself down as he processed the new information.
"Emperor Belos just tried to kill me." He quietly repeated the following words over and over again in hopes of processing this horrifying experience.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'Emperor Belos just tried to kill you'?" Annika asked him with squinted eyes.
Hunter looked up at the girl as if she had told him that boiling rain doesn't burn. "You saved me from him, but you couldn't see him?"
If the boy was honest, he felt increasingly confused by the second, and Annika seemed to feel the same.
"No? All I saw were..." She paused; Hunter could swear that her face started to turn redder from embarrassment, but he couldn't tell because their faces were already red from the cold air.
"Kids." She muttered.
"Kids?"
"Didn't you see them?" She asked and tried to remind him. "One tripped me, and most of them called my name?"
"What are you talking about?" Hunter snapped.
"What are you talking about?" Annika snapped back at him.
The blonde was about to retort at the brunette, but she seemed to have realized something. "Wait. Do you think that's one of the cave's many catches?"
Hunter gave her a questioning look. "I don't understand."
"Darius said the sword would suck up any magic used against it so it can protect itself. So maybe there are more traps that no one else knew about." She explained.
"I guess that makes sense."
"Wait, so you only heard the voices?"
"Yeah?" Hunter answered and then returned a similar question to Annika. "Then, what did you see?"
"Well, I just saw a vague image of a very tall person about to pound you to bits."
"Wait, you said one of these kids tripped you?"
"Yes."
"Then how come I didn't see it?"
"How should I know?"
"Maybe the sword creates illusions?"
"If that were the case, then getting the sword would be useless."
"You don't know that!" Was what Hunter wanted to say, but he stopped himself; he couldn't afford to fight with her right now, especially when his brain was scattered.
They both pondered for a while when Hunter realized that Annika didn't seem to feel any pain when they were thrust onto the cave's wall; in fact, she seemed to feel no pain from Belos' attack. He was about to ask her about it but realized that the question he would be asking would be awkward for him.
He took a deep breath before speaking. "I know we don't talk in general, and I know we don't talk about... our feelings." He paused before asking. "So. Did you feel any pain when..." Hunter didn't want to believe Belos would try to kill him, so he didn't want to call this alleged illusion the real Belos. "...He attacked us?"
Annika didn't need to be told twice to know who Hunter was talking about. "No." Her eyes widened. "Now, when I think about it, his attack felt like a light push than an attack."
The blonde looked puzzled as he tried to connect the pieces.
"Maybe the cave that the Sword of Cthulu inhabits feeds on fear?" The brunette suggested.
"Don't you mean the Sword?" The blonde corrected.
"No," Annika replied, and Hunter could notice a tiny spark she had in her eyes. "I actually read in a book yesterday that Sword of Cthulu and the cave its in are somehow connected to each other-"
"WHAT?" He shouted. "You had that piece of information the entire time!"
The girl only seemed to realize her horrible timing now, but her face turned to a scowl, and she turned away from the boy. "Well, you never asked."
"And to add to that, you would've ignored my words anyway." She said in an attempt to defend herself.
He was about to defend himself when he realized the brunette had some truth to her words. Except she didn't have to know that. "Maybe, but you should've said that before I got pounded!"
Annika opened her mouth to say something insulting, but she stopped herself. "Listen, even though I have a very strong urge to punch you in the face, we can't stay here and blame one another. We need to work together to get that sword."
Usually, Hunter would've ignored Annika, but he had two reasons to compromise with her; the first being that the boy knew that he couldn't go back to the cave alone unless he valued death, and the second being that Annika saw him in a state that he wouldn't show anyone, especially her.
So he nodded in agreement. "Okay, so if the Sword of Cthulu is connected to the cave, then that means we need to separate the sword and the cave from one another. But then, how do we deal with the illusions?"
The brunette rested her chin on her gloved hand in thought. "Well, you suggested that the sword could cause the illusions, and if that's the case, then maybe the cave helps the sword create illusions that are meant to scare us." She offered and explained her reasoning. "Since the cave is connected to the sword, either the sword is actually feeding on our fear, or it's its terrifying way of protecting itself."
"Hmmm, that seems like a likely possibility." Hunter agreed.
"Now, the only question is, how will we defeat these illusions without using magic?" Annika said as she tried to think of a plan.
Soon enough, Hunter seemed to figure out something else. "You said that you were lightly pushed while I was thrusted, and I saw you trip on nothing, but you said that someone tripped you."
Annika impatiently raised a brow. "Yeah? And where is this all leading to?"
"Well, maybe the sword is showing us our..." The blonde said the following words slowly after nervously gulping. "Worst fears."
The brunette's eyes widened in realization. "Then that would mean we'd have to face our fears."
Hunter nodded. "So we'll need a plan."
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𝐀/𝐍: Hello guys, gals and non-binary pals! Hope you doing well and having a good day/night 💫