Hunter Of The Six Realms

Chapter 12

"It's been so long, Halric. How've you been?"

Halric gave a curt nod. "Alive. That's enough."

Garred chuckled dryly. "You always were a hard-ass. Still limping?"

"Still here," Halric said. "Listen, I didn't come for small talk." He needed answers right away, he needed to first confirm if his son was safe before he resumed any conversation.

Garred raised a brow, catching the urgent tone in his voice. "Go on."

"It's Kaizen. I need to know if he was assigned to any portal raids this morning."

The old guard's expression sobered. He turned toward the thick, rune-carved desk and waved a hand over the enchanted ledger stone embedded in it. A soft blue glow pulsed from beneath the surface as it awakened.

"You mean your boy right? Give me a moment."

Every raid-approved hunter had to report to their guild before deployment. The guilds used enchanted record stones crafted by seers and rune-forgers to document assignments. Once a name was etched in, it shimmered with mana, locked into the ledger by spellbinding ink. The magic couldn't be faked, tampered with, or erased. Not even the Guildmaster could override it.

"He only joins raids through Crimson Dusk's division, mostly goes with level six or seven raid teams." Halric added quietly.

"Yeah, I know. The listings from Crimson Dusk sync through the eastern guildline. Everything's linked here."

Garred hovered his hand over the stone, whispering a command rune under his breath. A soft chime rang out as glowing inscriptions shimmered to life, displaying the guild's morning records in flowing script.

"Let's see… squad rosters, raid lists, deployment scrolls…"

He scanned the ethereal page, eyes narrowing.

"No sign of him," Garred said, frowning.

Halric's posture stiffened. "What?"

"I mean Kaizen's name isn't anywhere on the scroll. Crimson Dusk sent out three squads this morning. He's not with any of them. No solo assignments. No courier shifts. Nothing."

"That's not possible. Check again."

"I already did." Garred looked at him grimly. "You know how this works, Halric. The moment a hunter is registered, their name gets bound into the ledger. If he was sent through a portal or called to arms, it'd be right here, glowing, branded. But it's not."

Halric's voice dropped. "Is there any chance he left the district by other means? Something unrecorded?"

Garred hesitated, then reached for a different set of stones, the black obsidian warding blocks at the edge of the desk. He placed his palm on one and murmured an unlocking chant.

"These control the barrier logs," he explained. "The protective wards that encircle the guild sector. Anyone who crosses them, hunter, beast, even a spirit... gets marked by the boundary enchantments. It leaves behind a faint trace… a time-marked pulse we can read."

The second stone pulsed. Slowly, rows of faint blue etchings floated upward, names, times, directional notes.

Halric leaned in.

Third Bell, 11 Chimes – Squad Seven: Departure recorded

Third Bell, 26 Chimes – Crimson Dusk Unit B: Portal opened

Third Bell, 44 Chimes – Crimson Dusk Unit F: Return confirmed

Fourth Bell, 12 Chimes – No crossings

Fourth Bell, 30 Chimes – No crossings

Fifth Bell, 1 Chime – Eastern gate unlocked

Garred scanned each carefully. Then looked up, his face grim. "Kaizen's name never appeared. Not once."

Halric didn't move for a long second. That meant Kaizen never passed through the guild. Never crossed the barrier.Never entered a raid.

He hadn't left… officially. Which, in this realm, shouldn't have been possible. Even an unauthorized step past the protective wards would've triggered a pulse in the record stones.

But Kaizen was simply… gone. Just where in the world was he?

---

Meanwhile...

Kaizen's eyes snapped open.

The cold hit him like a slap. It wasn't just cold, it was the kind of freezing that clawed at your skin, dug into your bones, and made your muscles feel like they were about to lock up.

He sat up sharply, his breath forming quick clouds in the icy air.

"What the hell…" he muttered, eyes darting around.

The whole place was all snow, mountains, Ice, and nothing else.

He was lying on what looked like a flat patch of snow, but even that barely cushioned the sharp rocks underneath. He wrapped his arms around himself instinctively, shivering hard. No boots. No jacket. Just the clothes he'd worn to bed. His toes were already numb.

The wind howled around him like a living thing. High above, the sky was pale grey. The sun, if it was out at all, was hidden behind thick clouds. The entire place looked untouched, endless frozen mountains in every direction.

Panic scratched at the back of his mind.

"I slept in my bed last night… what the hell is this?" he whispered.

This wasn't a dream. The sting of the cold, the bite in the wind, the ache in his bones, this was f*cking real.

He stood slowly, wincing as his bare feet pressed against the snow-covered rock. His eyes scanned the white landscape. No trees. No people. No sounds except the wind.

Just then—

FWOOSH.

A portal cracked open ten feet in front of him. Black around the edges, laced with white veins. The same one from last night, although he remembered none of that.

Kaizen tensed, taking an instinctive step back. His body wasn't moving on its own this time, this was all him. Alert, awake and conscious.

A figure stepped out.

An old man. Dressed in full black robes that rippled slightly despite the lack of wind near him. His hair was bone-white, tied behind his head. His eyes… pitch black. No whites, no color. Just black.

Kaizen didn't speak right away. His face stayed neutral, but his brain was racing.

Who was this guy? Where the hell were they? And why did this all feel way too deliberate? Had he been kidnapped? But how? Why doesn't he remember any of it?

The man took two steps forward. Silent. Expression unreadable.

Before he could say a word, Kaizen cut in.

"Did you bring me here?"