Goldric ~ I Can't Help Falling In Love With You

I Want to Make a Deal

*5 hours earlier*

Gus woke with a start. He was on the floor in Hunter's room. He heard Hunter yell his name and then he heard footsteps leave the room. Gus was a light sleeper. He woke up to any sound just in case it was something trying to attack him. Like one time Mattholomule had snuck into his house and before he could wake Gus up Gus hit him with an illusion bat. Gus apologized for weeks after that.

Gus heard footsteps going down the hall so he figured it was just Hunter seeing if he was asleep or something before going to the bathroom. Gus was honestly too tired to care. Gus snuggled further into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes again until he woken by another yell from Hunter and then a loud shriek and bang piercing down the hall.

"Ahhh, Hunter, what in Titan's name are you doing?!?" Gus bolted out of his sleeping bag, flapjack following him, having woken up too. He ran into Darius's room and inside was Hunter looking around frantically while holding a bat. His eyes were still closed, but it appeared his eyes were moving underneith his eye lids. Suddenly he bolted out the door, almost running into Gus in process as he ran down the stairs.

"Uh, what is going on?" Gus looked to Darius for answers. He was the adult here.

"I, am not sure. He's sleepwalked before back at the castle, and he's always saying something in his sleep but this is very different."

They went downstairs and found Hunter on the couch clutching his bat looking around anxiously. Before yelling out "who's there, show yourself"

"Hunter, it's just me Darius. You need to calm down," Darius said a slow calming tone. He walked slowly towards Hunter, arms out to try and grasp the bat away from him and to console him. As Darius reached out to touch his shoulder a sudden force blasted him away and to the other side of the room.

"Darius, are you ok, what happened?" Gus rushed over to try and help him up.

"There appears to be very strong magic here at play. Look at that looking shadow."

Gus looked over towards Hunter and there was indeed a shadowy figure present. You couldn't see what it was but I was just a shadow, and Hunter was talking to it in his sleep. He called the shadow the Collector.

"The collector? Have you heard of him," Gus asked looking to Darius.

"I don't believe so, but whoever they are, they seem like a threat, just listen to what Hunter is saying."

Hunter was having a conversation with the shadow figure. "I swear if he hurts them," Hunter practically growled inching closer to where the shadow was resting.

Hurts who? Was Hunter referring to us?

After a couple seconds Hunter then tilted his head and spoke again. "Look I'm not messing around, I'm not interested in any of your games," he said as he took steps towards the front door. Before he could reach it he started floating.

"Hunter!" Gus yelled before trying to grab his ankle to pull him back down but that just blasted him away. 

"It's not going to work Gus, you'll only hurt yourself," Darius said helping Gus get back on his feet. 

Hunter flailed around, before he was forcefully thrown against the wall. He was pinned there, the bat fallen from his hand upon impact. He groaned in pain causing Darius to grimace at the site. He felt awful about his helplessness of not being able to do anything to help him. After a minute Hunter spoke again, a strange look on his face. 

"Alright Collector, I accept your game, but only if it's true that if I win my friends will be returned home safely."

Gus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, but we're still here, does that mean he took the others, or is it just a trick?"