In the end, the aftermath of the fight was rather anti-climactic. The person sent off to get confirmation of Jack and Charise’s statuses returned after only a minute or two had passed. The whispered conversation with the leader of the small group soon had them coming over and letting the two go. As for the instigator of their scuffle, whatever consequences he would end up facing remained unknown to the pair.
Along with their release they were given directions over to where the director was currently waiting. It was not far. In fact, where she was, was close enough to where they were that if it had not been for all of the clamor surrounding whatever emergency had occurred at the medical tent, simply raising their voices slightly would have been enough to let the director know of their departure from where she met them.
It really shouldn’t have come as any kind of surprise just how close it was. Between both the size of the temporary encampment and how quickly Madam Blue had arranged the meeting tent it stood to reason that the tent chosen would be close to her own.
Within a couple minutes Charise and Jack were stood outside of a medium sized tent with two guards stationed outside. The camp had quieted down significantly in the last few minutes. It seemed whatever the emergency had been, it was already resolved.
Coming up to the entrance of the tent they were stopped by the guards. The two gave them a cursory look over and then asked, “Would you to be Mr. Bertrand and Ms. Riverstone?”
Seeing Jack nod, the guard on the right gestured for them to enter while stating. “Please go right on in. Madam Director is waiting.”
Giving a brief thanks in response the two entered the tent. As he approached Jack felt the stirrings of nervousness. He attempted to quash it down as swiftly as he could. With how important getting the contract signed was he could not afford to be too distracted, or even more so have one of his spiraling memory/emotional episodes.
There was a pounding feeling in his head as he attempted to do his best to keep his rampant emotions fully under control. It was likely that he could probably only keep himself together for another ten minutes at the most before his control would slip. He was simply too tired and worn out to manage for longer. Even the fact that he was able to think clearly right now felt like a miracle.
Madam Blue’s voice broke into Jack’s introspection on the state of his mind. “I’ll admit I am a little surprised at just how quickly you have woken up. I had figured on it taking at least half an hour before you awoke. Likely even longer.”
Jack shrugged uncomfortably. “Fair enough. I’m more than a little exhausted. I’m not too sure just how long I can keep it together without some rest. So if we can just get this show on the road it would be appreciated.”
“No problem. Do you remember everything that we had discussed earlier and put into the contract?” Madam Blue nodded before reconfirming with the two.
“Yeah, I remember.” Charise responded.
Jack looked awkwardly at the other two in the tent before responding. Once he finally did however, he didn’t conceal just how out of it he had been earlier when they had been drawing up the contract. “I think I can remember a good portion. The only problem I have is trying to figure out if what I remember was what was actually agreed upon or if it was what I thought would happen in my imaginings.”
Both women chuckled at his admittance, neither too surprised by it. While his suggestions every now and then had been decent, it had been abundantly clear that he had only been about half present during the negotiations.
“Here. Why don’t you take a quick look over just to confirm and then we will head out of the dead zone to ratify it. Everything should be the same as when you last checked it.” The director handed Jack the fully written contract for them to review.
Between Jack’s semi-paranoid nature and his foggy memories of their meeting he made sure to look through the writing as best as he could with their limited time. Just after getting past the first clause, he looked up at the director and checked, “How long does it take to get out of the dead zone from here?”
“Oh, it shouldn’t take more then a few minutes. We will need to take one of the vehicles of course.” She shrugged in response.
Hearing that Jack frowned slightly, thought for a moment and then nodded to himself. “Then we should get going now. Here Charise. Why don’t you take a quick look and tell me if you spot anything. I can double check it over more closely on the way.” With that he handed the contracted over to her.
Charise grunted slightly at being handed the paper and began skimming over it. To her it didn’t look like there was anything out of place. She finished glancing it over, shrugged and handed it back. “Doesn’t look like anything is out of place. Least not that I saw.”
While Charise was doing her quick check of the document Madam Blue had stood from behind the small folding table and had moved over to the tent entrance. Popping her head out she asked for one of the guards to have a transport brought over to pick them up.
There was about a minutes wait before a large truck was parked right outside. Jack was once more feverishly trying to read through the document. The director coughed politely into her hand and spoke to catch his attention. “Our ride is here.”
Charise who had been staring boredly at the side of the tent looked up and let out a breath at the announcement. Glancing over at Jack she saw that he had not seemed to hear Madam Blue and elbowed him in the side to get him to pay attention.
Startled from his reading Jack saw the two women waiting slightly impatiently by the exit of the tent. He realized that it was already time to go and rubbing his side to alleviate the ache. As he headed for the vehicle he side whispered to Charise. “Did you have to hit so hard? That really hurt.”
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The response that he got in return for his complaint was an annoyed look followed by, “What are you complaining about? That was a love tap.”
“Uh-huh. A love tap. I see.” Jack’s grumpy tone of voice conveyed his disbelief at her claims of innocence. He shook his head, it didn’t really matter. No real harm was done. He hopped up into the truck and took a brief moment to try and center himself. He could feel his emotions building again, faster then before. If he wasn’t careful the spiral he was afraid of would happen before they could finish what needed to be done.
Closing his eyes Jack began to meditate. Trying to process his raw emotions almost like he would mana in the past. Purifying it into a different state. The minutes ticked by without him even being aware of it. So absorbed with his self-imposed task was he that he had thought only seconds had gone by when he found himself being shaken out of his trance.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a lightly forested area next to a large brick building that reached at least thirty feet into the air. It was clearly a guard tower of some kind. The truck that they were all sitting in had stopped just past the building. Thinking for a brief moment Jack reached out and felt the world’s mana jump to his call.
It was like drinking clear fresh spring water after being stranded in the desert. Delicious and refreshing. It would have been easy to lose himself in the wonderous feelings.
Jack shook himself, letting go of the mana that was streaming into him. It was amazing but other things had to take priority. He looked over at the others who were in the transport and saw Charise with her eyes closed, a rapturous expression on her face. He knew that she was feeling the same thing that he had just been. Likely to an even more extreme degree. While trapped within those twisting corridors of the complex, Jack had been able to restore his mana using the artifacts used there. For anyone else doing such a thing would have meant getting a severe case of mana poisoning. That along with his poor aptitudes meant that the feeling of emptiness was probably much worse for everyone other than him.
Jack sat there and watched her joy for a moment before he remembered something. If she was drawing in mana then he needed to be checking her passages! The outcome of her mana use with mana that hadn’t been filtered through his body was still unknown. The hope was that just like his own mana, hers had become naturally abhorrent or resistant to the system. Which would make it continue to lose it’s grasp over her. But the danger was there that it had only been because she had absorbed his mana that stopped it from reestablishing itself when they had examined it before.
He stood up and quickly stepped to the opposite side of the vehicle where Charise was sitting. Without delay he quickly began changing his mana to match hers so that he could easily channel it into her and take a look.
It still took a great deal of concentration to complete the imitation of her mana signature. However, now that he had done it a few times, it took a great deal less time than before.
Just as he was about to send some of the converted mana into Charise, he heard a curious voice behind him. “What are you doing?”
“Hmm? Oh, just going to monitor her mana usage here to see if her mana does resist the system’s changes. Hopefully it does, otherwise it will make curing people much more complicated.” Jack’s response was absentminded as almost all of his focus was on making sure to not make any mistakes. “I need to concentrate on this, can you tell her to start channeling or casting or something? I need to see it in action and not just being purified.”
With that statement Jack did not pay any more attention to the world around him. All of his mind involved with interpreting the feedback of his mana. Seeing the world in the colors and aspects that his brain registered it as.
Jack sunk the altered mana into Charise’s body, taking great care to not let his mana actually combine with her own. Simply following it in and watching the changes happening.
It was clear that she had not yet begun to use any of her mana and was still within the absorption phase. To his senses it was like watching a whirlpool made out of a rainbow of colors. Mostly greens and browns but with a smattering of blue and yellow. The color of the energy reflecting the nature surrounding them.
This was the first time in his life that Jack had intently studied how someone else utilized their own aspects. The flow of mana into her body was easily hundreds of times larger then his ever was. This let him see up close the difference between his own minuscule talents and those of someone who’s aspects were above average. While there was a slight feeling of envy, he also knew that even with all of her power if it wasn’t for him, she would still be nothing more then a walking talking puppet with what remained of her mind trapped deep within.
Jack watched in fascination as the whirlpool was swiftly transformed into the beautiful violet of Charise’s mana. There was a small outflowing of the bits and pieces of the natural mana that she could not convert.
After a short while there was a shift in the energy within her. It seemed that she was ready to start using the mana. Jack moved the small bit of mana that he had put into her body, sending it closer to where her external passages lay. Whatever happened now would greatly impact the future of everything involved with this facility.
Holding his breath in anticipation, Jack watched as the mana flowed to her internal passages to create whatever effect that Charise had decided upon. Eventually there were the small bits of mana that headed to the external passages that would form into the crystallization within.
Jack stared intently. This was it. As the small wisps of mana touched the passageways where the system had embedded itself there was a brief moment where nothing happened and Jack began to fear the worst. Then it happened. There was a small explosion just like what had occurred back inside the complex.
Their hope had come true. Charise’s mana had taken on some of the same characteristics as his own. The mana of the system seemed to still be opposed to her mana signature just like it was to his. At least in the short term. This meant that the method that he was going to show the director would work. Hopefully, the researchers would be able to replicate it and free others without his direct involvement once he showed them how he had done it.
He couldn’t help himself and let out a loud whoop in joy. His control over his emotional state completely shattered by the shear level of excitement and relief that he felt in that moment. Memories started to bombard him sending him hurtling toward getting stuck into an emotional spiral.
Eyes open wide Jack turned to where the director and her guard were sitting and waiting. Struggling to keep himself in the present as his mind was slammed with numerous emotions and memories he groaned out. “Good news. She seems to be resistant to the system’s influence. Not so good news, I need to sign the contract now. Right now. I don’t how much longer I will be able to stay cognizant. My aftereffects from getting free of the system are… uh… acting up.”
Jack’s outburst and subsequent request for the contract had everyone’s eyes on him. The director frowned slightly. When she had last spoken to him after he had freed himself initially, he had not mentioned any side effects. She shook her head slightly, it was something that she could interrogate him about later. Reaching to her side she picked up the contract laying there and handed it to him.
He gave it a quick look over to just confirm it was the same contract that he had looked at before. He nodded his head quickly when he confirmed it was. The only difference from what he saw before was now the bottom bore a signature and sigil. Taking his own meager reserves Jack channeled his mana into the oathbound paper and felt a strange pressure settle over him.