Chapter 3: Jack; Vagril 6th, 343SR; 04:30

Jack walked through the darkness aimlessly, his lantern lit nothing but the floor around him. The darkness stretched out in all directions, but something about it didn’t seem right.

“Put it out,” a voice within the darkness spoke.

Jack felt his body jump, nervousness overcame him as he looked for the source. Jack let go of the lantern, but he didn’t hear it hit the ground. Whether or not he closed his eyes or opened them he saw nothing, but it slowly changed. Soon he noticed lights in the sky all around him. His eyes adjusted, and he started to see a rectangular shape in the darkness.

He walked forward toward the black silhouette, it got larger as he approached. A white fabric seemed to glow in the darkness around the pillar. Jack continued forward but stopped as he looked down at the base of the silhouette. ‘Huh?’ Jack froze, he was looking at a foot. A foot connected to the muscular leg of a giant. Jack looked up, and the figure of the person slowly became clearer. It sat on a giant throne, his body dark and obscured, all Jack could see was the white hood and mantle he wore.

Jack looked at the face and his entire body shivered. He felt nauseated. His stomach turned and he almost felt like throwing up. He couldn’t see its face, there was nothing there. A dreadful feeling in his gut welled up. ‘Is it… Is it watching me?!’ His chest pumped with each silent breath, and the being on the throne tilted its head down.

Jack’s heart started to beat faster after seeing it move, he turned to run but halted as he noticed a giant sword with its entire blade stabbed into the ground. The sword had a golden hilt, with a black handle, and perfectly round gem glowing bright red at the top of the large handle. The blade was so big, Jack almost felt like it was obvious that it belonged to the giant. However, he reached for the red orb. There was something about it, something he wanted. Something he needed. Just as his fingertips were about to touch it, everything went dark.

* * *

“Jack!” Carol shouted.

Jack’s eyes opened quickly as he lifted his head groggily. He squinted at the lamp that illuminated the dusty basement. He let out an audible yawn before he closed his eyes again. His head fell back down on his arms.

“Ugh, stop sleeping… We’re almost done…” Carol shook her head.

Jack reached for his eyes and rubbed them. “Give me a break, we worked all day. I can’t just stay up and not sleep...” Jack responded.

“Well the sooner we get the mines closed the sooner we get more time to sleep,” Carol reminded him. “Bring me more of the logorite…”

“Give me a second,” Jack groaned.

‘Logorite dust...’ Jack reached for a bottle full of a green powder. He walked over to Carol, but paused as he held the glass. ‘What was that dream. That... Thing... It was massive... But it was still sitting...’ Jack set the glass down next to Carol as she poured a clear solution into a glass cup.

“Remember to close the tank properly,” she added as Jack approached.

Jack poured the fine powder into a glass sphere that had a small opening on the top. The powdered logorite bounced against the bottom of the glass, piling up like sand. The powder filled half of the jar and Jack stopped. He reached for a metal canister, with a pipe extending out of the bottom of it, a knob protruded out of that extended section of the pipe, and it acted as a sealing mechanism. Jack turned and crouched down next to a bucket of water under the table, he lifted a cup of water out and poured it into a small hole on top of the tank, water dripped through and splashed back into the bucket ‘That dream, it was so vivid...’ Jack continued to think about it as he twisted the knob closed. He gave it one more twist with some force to make sure the tank was sealed.

“Tanks ready,” Jack assured.

Jack stood back up and lifted the tank, holding the bottom of the smooth glassware carefully. Carol took it and poured the clear liquid in on the opposite side of the pipe protruding out of it. After the last drop of liquid splashed into the tank, she screwed a metal cap onto the hole sealing it, then took the entire tank and inserted the pipe extension into the glass sphere that Jack filled earlier and screwed it in tightly.

“I’m gonna love seeing these explode in Alexander’s stupid face!” Carol grinned menacingly.

She lifted the contraption with both hands and walked to the corner of the room, where five more of the same device were placed. Four of the five had been filled up to halfway with powdered logorite. Jack picked up the extra empty device, it wasn’t too heavy without the logorite, he held it with one hand and placed it in the corner of the room.

“Hopefully it works,” Jack said nervously.

“It definitely will, he can’t be invincible,” Carol assured.

Jack looked down, dread clouded over him.

“He has a gift from the Celestial, and probably one of the strongest ones at that. He’s been through thousands of battles, hundreds of those with demons... I really hope we can do this without him finding out it was us…” Jack felt an emptiness in his stomach, he wasn’t hungry, but incredibly anxious.

Carol took off the white coat and threw it on the chair with a huff.

“By the way, how are we gonna transport all of this?” Jack asked.

“Well, we can’t be seen by the other villagers... They’ll squeal. And we only have one bag to hide it-”

“Why would the villagers do that?” Jack squinted in confusion.

Carol looked at Jack. She looked down, and then to the right. She scratched her neck.

“I mean we are doing most of the miners in the town a favor, and we could allocate more people to other work... So? I don’t get it...” Jack tried to explain.

“That’s not it,” Carol denied. “The villagers told the angels it was your parents who closed the mines... That’s why the villagers can’t see us doing this.”

Jack froze.

“They... Weren’t they trying to help. Why would they...” Jack stopped as he recalled getting attacked for no reason outside of his house. “Do people… Hate my parents?”

Carol picked up one of the devices and carefully lowered it on top of the empty sack. She lifted the sides of the bag over the device and then in the bag and carried it with both hands.

“Anyone who rejects the Celestial doesn’t just get punished, everyone gets punished. That’s why closing the mines isn’t enough… If we take down a noble though... Well, I bet even the villagers would fear us if we did that- but that isn’t the point, the angels will be too caught up to punish anyone. Plus, that jerk has it coming,” she explained.

Jack looked down, he felt his head throb slightly. He didn’t know what to think after he heard that.

“We should go before the sun rises,” Carol ordered as she walked toward the exit with the device in the brown sack.

Jack followed her up the steps and out of the basement. Midway up the stairs, thunder roared from outside, droplets of rain beat against the roof. Jack opened the door and was met with the entrance to the house on his left, on his right a larger section used as the living space and kitchen, and a door in the corner led to the bedroom. The house looked almost identical to his own, save for the pictures on the wall of a boy and a girl. They were both young in the picture, the girl had short and messy hair that was easily recognizable. The infant boy she held up in her hands was not. ‘Huh... Never actually noticed that before...’

“Hey Carol, you have a brother?” Jack asked, but she had already turned the other corner and didn’t seem to hear his question.

“Give me a second, I’ll go get us coats since it’s raining,” Carol quickly disappeared into the bedroom.

Jack opened the front door and stepped outside, the cold air rubbed his skin as an earthy scent filled his nose. He expected to see the vibrant colored sky from his dream, however he was met with the pitch-black night sky. The edges of dark grey clouds were illuminated by the moonlight. The rain splashed into puddles, the droplets crashed against the ground rapidly. As he took a step, Jack’s foot pressed deep into the wet mud.

Another thunderous roar cracked through the sky, it lit up the outline of the mountain just outside of town. Jack looked up at it as he felt the hair on his skin rise. ‘We can take down a noble. We can do it,’ he assured himself. The rain rolled off the side of his face, he heard the sound of a door closing as Carol’s boots squelched through the mud.

“I thought I said wait,” Carol handed the extra coat to Jack.

The coat was light, but the material felt thick. He put his hands through the thick brown coat made of wool, his arms were too short to reach out of the sleeves.

“Sorry... I didn’t have a smaller coat around,” Carol said. “We don’t have much time, the sun will be up soon,”

Carol started down the curved path, Jack zipped up the coat and followed close behind. In the distant sky, in the same spot as usual toward the east, a green light in the sky burned brightly. Carol noticed Jack gazing at it in the distance as they walked. ‘I wonder why people call it the Necropolis… I don’t even know what they word means…’ It always felt surreal to look at. A floating island high in the sky, with a black tower protruding out of it. A green flame burned vibrantly at its peak, it could be seen for miles from every corner of Kamino.

“Jack, do you think it’s true? The curse of the Non-unified?” Carol asked curiously.

“Huh? Well, I can’t really think of any other reason why the Celestial would forsake us,” Jack shrugged.

“The angels say this or that is the…” Carol raised her arms and waved them in a silly way. “Celestials will… Even claiming to be the righteous ones, even though they treat us horribly...”

For several more minutes, Jack and Carol walked through the outer edge of the town.

“Well, trying to ask them immediately means neglecting the divinity of the Celestial, then they won’t listen to us, and if we try we are just beaten or worse, martyred,” said Jack. “I was wondering though, how can flame just burn forever?” Jack mentioned as he looked towards the Necropolis.

Carol looked at it and scratched her head.

“That? Well… I heard this from your mom, who heard this from my dad… Whose grandfather grew up around the time of the war between angels and demons,” Carol recalled.

“That’s a long line for a story to be told down…” Jack nodded with a blank stare.

She turned around excitedly as the two of them reached the fields between Logos and the mountains.

“The hybrids, angels, and demons battled three lords for freedom of the continent. The three lords were defeated and fell into hiding, but... It’s rumored Necropolis is still lit today because one of the lords still lives,” Carol explained.

Jack felt his heart beat faster. ‘Huh, why am I nervous?’

“The three lost lords... I doubt they’re alive, but if Necropolis up there belongs to one of them, who knows what the other two have!” Carol rambled.

Jack noticed Carol stretch her hands outwards into the air as she explained. She clenched her fists and grinned as she looked forward.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Oh, sorry haha! I get excited thinking about these things, mysterious relics and places… All over the world! I mean they could be anywhere with hundreds of treasures in them,” Carol explained with a bright smile across her face.

“I’m amazed you can feel excited about all of this, I just feel nervous,” Jack admitted.

Carol laughed as she turned to Jack. “Isn’t being nervous and being excited the same thing?”

Jack reared his head back, then looked down as his hands shaking the lantern. His bones felt like they were ready to burst out of his skin ‘I’m not nervous… But excited?’ Jack couldn’t admit it, even if this was all fantastical nonsense, he was having fun. It was better than being ignored by everyone.

The two of them approached the tall trees of the forest, Jack contemplated something to add to the conversation, but he had difficulty thinking of anything. As Carol walked into the forest her lamp lit up the tall brown trees around them. The leaves were dark, the moon light reflecting a bit of the rain stuck still hanging off them.

“I had- a weird dream, earlier in the basement,” Jack brought up.

Carol looked at Jack with a confused expression.

“I was in some cave... Or I thought it was a cave. And then a voice told me to turn off my lantern…” Jack scratched his head. “And the sky… It wasn’t black, it was made of a thousand colors with white dots everywhere. They all shone brightly, but they were really far away...” Jack explained.

“Wow, I can barely remember my dreams,” Carol replied. “You said the sky was full of colors? Like, more than one or two?”

“Yeah, but then... The weird part was when I saw a guy in a chair, he was huge, with a huge sword too. He wore a white cape, even though it was dark, he was even darker. His skin was pitch black. And he was like, huge! Massive!” Jack spread his arms out to try and give her an idea of how big he was, but Carol burst into cheerful laughter. “H-Hey…”

“But, what you’re doing with your arms is funny,” Carol laughed. “Ah, we’re almost there! I can see the entrance!”

Jack thought back to all the times he called her an idiot and made fun of her behind her back. He felt slightly ashamed. They reached the entrance to the mines full of logorite. Carol entered and Jack followed, they stopped just a few meters from the entrance. Carol set the bag down and put the device next to the wall.

“Okay, just give me a countdown when you’re gonna-” Jack stopped talking as he saw Carol immediately turn the knob.

“Oh... My bad... Anyways, clocks ticking, let’s run!” Carol advised as she ran out of the cave.

‘Oh shit,’ Jack hesitated, he stepped back quickly, then turned. A bright green light from behind him illuminated the walls of the cave. Jack scrambled back outside and ran behind a tree. He peeked his head out immediately, only to see the bright green light that glowed from inside the mines. ‘Nothing exploded?’

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“Carol nothing exploded!” Jack yelled.

Carol came out from behind a bush.

“Give it a second or two,” Carol shouted back.

After a few minutes of silence, nothing happened. The two of them came out of their hiding spots. The green light continued to glow from where they placed the glass device.

“Well, that sucks,” Jack uttered as he looked at Carol. “Looks kind of cool though...”

Carol watched the entrance of the cave eagerly.

“Just give it a couple more seconds,” her voice cracked slightly.

Another few minutes passed, but nothing happened. Carol’s shoulders slumped, Jack gulped. Her eyes wandered toward the ground. She sighed as she shook her head in disappointment. Jack had never seen her like this.

“I guess I am just an idiot... I can’t even follow simple instructions,” Carol lamented.

“Hold on... Don’t be sad,” Jack said.

Carol looked up at him, her expression was blank.

“We can always try again, or screw killing the angels, let’s just leave... I’m sure we can survive on our own without the angels, screw this place!” Jack tried to lift her spirits.

A single tear fell out of her eye, and she sniffled as she got up.

“We’ll be killed within a week...” Carol denied the option. “Nothing will change... The nobles will hunt us to the ends of Grelt,” she added as she wiped the tears off her face.

“Then we better get a head start,” Jack stated as he looked up into the sky and saw the white moon. “Oh, the clouds cleared up,” Jack mentioned, pointing up into the sky.

Carol sniffled, then wiped her eyes. “You’re a good person Jack.”

Jack turned around and saw Carol smile as she quietly cried.

“Most people would just call me an idiot if I asked them to help, but you came along, and even though it didn’t work you still haven’t called me an idiot,” Carol admired.

Jack felt sick to his stomach again.

“I’m not,” he replied. “I called you an idiot behind your back, I’m just like most people,” Jack admitted.

Carol didn’t reply, she stared up at the moon for a moment. Jack looked down as he expected her to be upset.

“That was really honest…” Carol giggled. “If you can say that about yourself, I think you’re wrong…”

She looked up towards the sky, wiped the tears off her face from earlier, and smiled. Jack felt a little embarrassed.

“I hate how optimistic you are,” Jack teased.

Carol suddenly laughed out loud joyously, Jack felt a smile spread on his face as he started laughing too. ‘Friends...’Jack thought to himself as the two of them laughed, oblivious to the light growing in intensity from the cave behind them. After a short pause, Carol opened her eyes and looked up, her smile faded as she pointed up into the sky.

“Hey, Jack... What is that?” she asked with a worried tone.

Carol pointed upwards to three lights in the sky. Two white lights with a third red light above them moved together in the sky. Each got bigger as they approached the ground. Jack squinted at it while he tried to make out what it was, as the lights grew brighter Jack noticed a black silhouette behind it.

“Jack… Jack it’s coming this way!” Carol panicked.

Jack continued trying to make out what the object was.

“We should get out of-” Carol was cut off as a loud explosion erupted from behind them, he felt his feet lift off the ground.

The trees in front of him were smothered with bright green light. An explosion from the cave cracked through the air. The force threw them several meters forward. Jack’s body spun in the air before he hit the ground and rolled onto his front. ‘Ah! What the!’ Jack looked up to see the entrance of the cave. Smoke spilled out of it. His ears rang from the explosion. Carol struggled to her feet quickly. She looked at Jack and then turned to the cave entrance, then jumped up and down repeatedly and yelled something he couldn’t hear. Jack rolled onto his back and looked into the sky where a cloud of smoke rose from within the cave entrance.

“Ack...” As the ringing stopped Jack began to hear Carol’s voice.

“Jack! Jack! It worked!” Carol jumped for joy.

Jack pushed himself off the ground with his elbows, his shoulders and back ached from the impact. He glanced back up toward the lights from earlier and didn’t expect to see that they’d approached much closer. A blue object soared high over Jack’s head. Two of the white lights from earlier came from the front of the object. The right side of the flying object collided with the mountain and spun. Boulders and shards of rock flew behind the mountain. Carol and Jack crouched out of fear, they watched the chunks of rock roll down the mountain. The two looked at each other for a few seconds, but they both flinched as an even louder crash rippled through the sky and rumbled the ground. The strange object had descended into the forest leading to Helios. Jack and Carol were equally dumbfounded by what just happened.

“What was that?!” Jack shouted in fear.

Carol continued to stare at the broken piece of the mountain.

“Hey Carol, it’s probably better if we just head back to Logos,” Jack advised as he shook Carol’s shoulder.

“What if... This is our gift,” Carol asked.

She didn’t turn her head to Jack, she just kept looking at the mountain.

“But a non-unified can’t get a gift, we’re cursed?” Jack responded.

Carol looked down for a moment. She suddenly sprinted forward, following the face of the mountain.

“Carol- wait!” Jack called as he hurried after her.

She turned and put a finger over her mouth.

“We can’t be loud... Were technically leaving Logos. If an angel spots us we’re dead,” Carol told Jack.

“Yeah... That’s even more reason not to!?” he whispered with a frantic expression.

“Are you not curious about that? And wasn’t it you who just said we should leave?” Carol asked as she continued to walk away.

“Well... I... Ugh,” Jack stuttered as his body shook in fear.

“Then go home, I’ll tell you what I find,” said Carol.

‘Damnit, no, no, no… Jack just let her do something stupid...’ Jack turned and started to walk back to Logos, but he stopped. He stopped as he considered Carol’s words.

“What if it is our gift...” Jack gulped as he thought about it, then immediately turned and chased after Carol.

Jack ran through the forest with his lantern in hand, following the rock wall for several minutes. He reached the end of the forest surrounding the mines, the path continued along the side of the mountain. He looked ahead and saw the light from Carol’s lantern on the path ahead, however it disappeared behind the shadows of a different forest. ‘I’ve never been to Roverswood…’ Jack panted heavily, he walked along the path while he caught his breath. He glanced over to the right and was met with scenery he wasn’t familiar with.

“Woah,” Jack whispered.

Jack saw multiple mountains past the other side of a large body of water, he could see the lights in Ulkay at the bottom of the valley in front of the river. He turned and looked at the mountain behind him, from where he stood it appeared massive, but it was nothing in comparison to the mountains on the continent of Hiria. Jack continued to gaze at it while he walked, until he passed under the tree’s of Roverswood on the other side of the small mountain.

There were massive pieces of rock scattered around, and several trees around had fallen or broken down. As he ran through the destroyed forest, he eventually discovered a large boulder that broke off the mountain. The smell of burned wood filled Jack’s nose. ‘Is something on fire?’ He ran around the boulder. He noticed a pair of footsteps in the mud, ‘Carol went this way too…’ As he passed a few more tree’s, he noticed a clearing in the forest.

Jack’s stomach sank at the sight of the giant fallen trees. Each had been ripped out of the ground. Chips of wood, branches, and roots were scattered all over the place. Jack noticed Carol in the distance, she was standing in a divot of dirt, in front of the object that just crashed. The blue exterior of it was covered in mud, Jack gulped as he realized the strange object was what scarred the ground. Carol reached forward to touch it.

“Wait don’t touch it!” Jack warned.

She dragged her fingers on the surface, wiping some of the mud off and revealing more of the blue surface. Jack was hesitant, he reached forward and did the same, he placed his hand on the blue hull, it was warm, smooth, and wet. Jack dragged his hand along it, the smoothness of the surface puzzled him. He wiped the mud off of the surface, revealing a white letter.

“Hey Carol, there’s a letter here,” Jack noticed.

Carol walked over as Jack wiped the wet mud off the ship until he could see the entire text. ‘#78-MC Imperial Dragoon?’

“What does that mean?” Carol squinted.

“Imperial Dragoon? Do you think that’s the owner? But whose name starts with a number?” Jack pondered as he walked around the large object.

“I don’t… Think so? This must be a gift... I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Carol wondered as she walked around the opposite way. “Hey Jack, come look at this!” Carol called.

Jack ran around the crash site to the front where Carol was crouched in front of the white light they had seen earlier. ‘Are those lights… Eyes?’ Carol put her face right up to the light.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Jack asked as Carol squinted into the bright light.

“No, it doesn’t hurt, it’s not even hot either… But it’s brighter than any other fire I’ve seen,” Carol analyzed.

Jack hovered his hand over the light. ‘Huh… It really isn’t hot, but how could it make this much light without a fire? Wait is this glass?’ He scanned every crevice of the object, walking around its body. Jack looked up as he walked under a flat panel. ‘What if this thing is alive…’

As Jack approached the back of the object, he noticed a shiny red sphere that stuck out of a panel. It reminded him of the orb from his dream. But upon closer inspection, it appeared to be like a door knob. Jack twisted the sphere, but it didn’t move. As he tried a bit harder, he felt the lever move vertically. He tilted his head, and then pulled it down. The object started to release steam. A mechanical sound shifted as the mouth of the object opened, it was a sound Jack had never heard before. He let out a short gasp and turned without a second thought. He took off in a full sprint, jumped behind a fallen tree, and took cover.

“Jack! What was that?!” Carol called nervously as she stuck her head out from the front of the object.

“Carol it’s moving!” Jack shouted.

She came around towards the opening, peeking inside before she suddenly froze. ‘What is she doing?!’ Jack’s heart pounded rapidly.

“Carol, wait that might be its mouth!” Jack cried.

Carol stuck her head into the opening and walked through. Jack sat nervously, watching the opening as he waited for Carol to come out.

“Jack come here! Quickly!” Carol called, she sounded scared.

Jack poked his head out and crept closer to the opening. He kept a distance and walked around to get a better angle of the inside. Strange tools were hanging from the walls, Jack didn’t recognize anything he was looking at. Jack saw Carol inside with her back facing him. As he approached he saw what Carol was looking at. His jaw dropped.

There was an abnormally large man unconscious in the small hallway. He had to have been at least eight feet tall, with a body shaped by muscles, and dense black hair reaching just past his neck. All he wore was tattered black pants. Blood splattered the walls, however, the stains had dark purple crystals growing out of them. Each lit a bright purple from the inside, Jack couldn’t take his eyes off them.

“I knew it, this is the mouth... We should go, Carol!” Jack advised.

She walked forward and put her hand over the wound in his stomach. Jack watched her shoulders raise. Carol started to shiver.

“The blood is dry... But these wounds... He’s been burned, cut, and stabbed all over... This is- really bad,” Carol shuddered before she placed her finger on his neck. “Wait... He’s breathing! This guy’s still alive... How!?”

Silence filled the air as Jack tried to process that. He looked down at the crystals that grew from his blood. He reached down and tried to pick it up, but it was stuck to the ground, with a bit of force he plucked the crystal off.

“What is this stuff?” Jack whispered as he analyzed the purple gem.

It had a bit of weight to it, it was incredibly dense, and the purple light within it was hard to take his eyes off. Jack reached down and filled his pockets with the crystals riddled around the hall.

“Hey, wake up! Hey!” Carol shouted, she turned to Jack who collected the crystals all the while. “Jack, what the hell? Give me a hand this guy needs help!”

“Uh- Yeah, I’m coming!” Jack hurried over.

Carol lifted the man’s arm over her shoulder, Jack raised his other shoulder.

“Urgh!” Jack struggled.

The man was just as heavy as he looked, they took small steps and eventually got him outside of the ship. A soft blue hue was spreading across the sky, it would be morning soon.

“Where are we even gonna take him? The only ones who might be able to fix him are the angels.” Jack asked.

“Yeah... but. You know how gifts can either be a tool, a power, or a spirit?” Carol replied.

Jack stopped and looked at her blankly. “No,” he immediately denied what she may have been implying.

“Oh come on Jack, he literally came from the sky! He really could be our gift!” Carol argued.

“I mean he might have a gift himself... His blood is turning into crystals,” Jack replied.

They dragged the unconscious man to the edge of the crash site, and slowly carried him through the forest.

“I just think, maybe we shouldn’t give him to the angels. I mean, doesn’t this seem weird to you?” Carol asked.

“What about this isn’t the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me?” said Jack.

“I don’t think angels bleed crystals... I’ve never seen a demon before but do you think he might be one? Whatever let’s just get him back to Logos. We have to get back before morning, no one can see him, or else they might inform the angels,” Carol added.

They continued through the woods, eventually reaching the entrance of the mines they were at earlier. The entrance was filled with rubble.

“Well, the bomb was a success,” Carol pointed out, she was running out of breath.

“Yeah, little… Victories!” Jack breathed heavily as the weight of the mysterious man made his neck sore.

They crossed the forest until and reached the fields that surrounded Logos. Carol and Jack let go of the man and he dropped flat onto his face. They both fell backward and breathed heavily after they had carried him so far.

“By the way do you still have some of those crystals?” Carol asked Jack.

“Yeah, why,” Jack stood back up, and he pulled one of the crystals out of his pocket.

“It looks cool, I’m just wondering why it grew from that guy’s blood.”

“Yeah, that’s really weird...”

Jack tossed the stone up and down in his hand. Then he threw the stone up into the air. He walked forward to catch the stone, but he wasn’t going to make it. As the crystal hit the ground, a strange shattering sound echoed out. And what followed was a massive purple explosion that echoed through the air for miles. It was even louder than the crash earlier.

“Wha-”

Jack shielded his face from the bright purple light. The force from the initial explosion launched him and all the crops away. The power that beckoned forth from the crystal was unreal. Jack flew past Carol. His back slammed into the tree bark, and rattling the leaves. Jack fell to the ground, and wheezed in pain. ‘What… What just happened…’ A purple fire remained where the explosion happened. Jack’s ears rang, he was just barely out of range. He saw two people who both looked like Carol approach him, he quickly realized he was seeing doubles.

“Jack! Jack are you okay!” Carol called.

“No...” Jack muttered as he put his palms against the ground.

Jack coughed and rolled onto his front, he pushed himself off the ground with his hands and struggled to his feet.

“That explosion was way bigger and faster than the one at the cave! Screw the bomb! Let’s use this on Alexander!” Carol said excitedly.

“Yeah- little victories...” Jack wheezed as he struggled to speak.

Jack just looked up at her with an exhausted expression ‘I shouldn’t have even bothered throwing it...’ His coat and shirt were drenched in sweat, rain, and now mud and grass. Jack looked back towards the fire, before noticing several orange lights approaching from the town. The lights came from the lanterns of multiple slaves who had woken up earlier due to the explosion.

“Oh no... Carol the townsfolk heard us,” said Jack.

Jack pointed towards Logos, where a crowd of people approached the purple fire which burned the wheat crops.

“We need to get him back into the woods, or else they’ll see us!” Carol warned.

Jack got to his feet, limping for a moment but rushing to the unconscious man. ‘Oh I really regret throwing that now…’ He crouched down, pulling the mans arm over his neck, and pushing him up with all of his strength. Jack’s muscles struggled as he grit his teeth. It felt like someone was pushing down on his knees. Carol took the first step and Jack struggled to keep pace.

“We’ll go around- where should we take him?” Carol asked while breathing heavily.

“If we go around- we can probably put him in the cellar- of my house,” Jack stuttered as the two of them struggled to carry the heavy man.

* * *

After they were safe from the civilians’ sight, Jack and Carol dragged the body through the field of crops out of sight. They carried him until they reached the east entrance of Logos, undetected as the civilians gathered where the explosion happened in the north of Logos. The two of them dropped to their knees out of exhaustion as they got to Jack’s house.

The grass brightened as the sun rose over the horizon, and they arrived outside the house. Jack could barely believe they’d made it that far without being seen. ‘Almost… Done…’ Jack shook his head, beads of sweat splattered on the ground, he breathed in as he grabbed the handle to the cellar. Jack stood and lifted the handle, he looked inside but saw nothing but the dark interior. His drenched clothing stuck to his skin uncomfortably and his throat felt harsh as he wheezed. Jack opened the coat and felt a satisfying chill as steam drifted off his chest.

“Alright almost there, I got his shoulders, you get his legs,” Carol instructed.

Carol took a deep breath and lifted the man under the arms, Jack held his ankles. The muscles in his arms screamed from the tearing pain. But the load felt a bit lighter as Carol lifted as well, however, her face indicated she was struggling as well. She took a step back into the cellar, Jack followed her pace, and eventually, they got the body inside. They sat him upright on the floor against the wall at the back of the cellar.

Jack shut the cellar door and took a seat on the stairs to catch his breath. His sweat made the coat he wore significantly hotter. Jack pulled it off and immediately felt relieved as the cold air flooded over him. Carol continued to analyze the mysterious man’s body.

“Jack, did his wounds look like that before?” Carol asked.

“What?” Jack stood up and approached the body.

The mysterious man sat against the wall with his head down. While his wound appeared to be dry earlier, the veins around the wound glowed purple. Carol moved his long black hair out of the way to reveal his face. However, it was covered in blood.

“Get rid of all the dried blood on his face, and I think he’d be pretty handsome,” Carol commented as she analyzed him.

“Well he has explosive crystals coming out of his blood, he came from the sky, and he heals rapidly... Hopefully, he’s not an angel, or else I’m the first to die when he wakes up,” Jack said.

Jack walked closer to the man and analyzed his wounds. In the left side of his abdomen, there was a terrible wound. The veins around it were glowing purple. The wound was deep, the surrounding skin was littered with bruises and stained with blood.

“This is hard to look at,” Jack felt his own stomach tingle when he saw the wound. “It looks like someone stabbed him... In the same spot... Multiple times... Whoever did this really hated this guy…”

There had been several distinct holes in his abdomen one of which he could see the right through. Jack put his hand over the man’s chest and felt a slow pulse.

“Yet somehow... He’s still breathing... No one should be able to survive this,” Jack pointed out.

Jack and Carol’s heads shot up as they heard someone knock on the front door once. After a short delay another knock followed, and it repeated once more with a much louder knock. Carol immediately stood, Jack’s gulp echoed across the silence, and his heart sank.

“This is the Warden speaking. Open the door, or I’ll break it down scum,” a deep voice filled with vicious intent called from outside. “Come on, I don’t have all day, open the door!”

“That’s...” Jack whispered as his heart began to beat rapidly. “Carol, Carol what do we do... That’s...” Jack turned to Carol, her expression was filled with the same fear he felt. “That’s... Alexander Rael!”