Chapter 6: Jack; Shauran 18th, 344SR; 13:54

“Jack Eldritch?” a young angel in familiar white robes asked.

Jack struck the wall with the pickaxe, cutting a chunk of the wall off. The logorite ore rolled off the wall, hitting the hard ground with a disordered rhythm. Jack huffed in and out as he turned towards the angel, who stood with his body facing away from him. He held out the strip of paper as he analyzed a list in his other hand. The angel stood over an arm’s length away, and they had the emblem of House Pendragon on their white robes.

“Yeah... That’s me,” Jack replied with a tired huff.

“Here you go, your food for the next week,” the guard handed him the ticket.

“Thanks...” Jack replied after taking the small sheet of paper.

“Use it wisely, don’t be a pig, waste those five meals and you starve till the next one,” the guard advised while walking away.

Despite the hospitality and the laid-back attitude, Jack remained skeptical of the angels. The guard walked off into the darkness of the mines towards the next slave. ‘I think I know that by now...’ Jack put the ticket into his pocket and readied himself to mine once more. ‘How much longer will I do this.’ He slammed the axe into the rock, rubble rolled onto the ground. Jack squatted down to analyze it, he sifted out the green crystals from the rock and put them into a plastic bucket half full with the logorite he had already collected. He put his hand into his pocket and dusted any small shards off his hand.

“Having Arthur as the warden of Logos is much better, we’ve got an angel like this helping us out!” the miners cheered from across the cave.

‘As if...’ Jack clenched his pickaxe and looked to the other side of the cave. An angel in white robes with his hood off helped those slaves mine. ‘What the hell?’ Jack was surprised to see such a thing, he looked down at the green rocks and remembered that day.

‘After Alexander Rael executed Carol, he was deemed unfit to be Warden due to his anger and outbursts. Arthur Pendragon secured himself as the Warden of Logos the moment he could. Slaves get to grow their hair, House Pendragon’s medical staff actually offer healthcare in Logos at times, and slaves aren’t beaten on the spot... That’s the only difference. We still belong to them though...’

Jack swung his pickaxe down to the ground, ‘It’s not like Arthur didn’t do anything good... His goal is also the same as mine... I think...’ He raised it high up before striking it down harder. ‘The book...’ Jack remembered it.

‘I can’t believe I read it twice... Well, not much else to do...The story of the angels and the demons encountering the creature known as Ragnarok... And with its destructive power, it laid waste to the planet. Only after the angels and demons had been pushed back by the assault, did they work together and defeat Ragnarok.’

Jack sighed as he raised his pickaxe again.

‘Except none of that matters because the demons isolated themselves in the north... Probably because the angels are mostly just a bunch of pricks...’ Jack swung his pickaxe again, but rather than feel it ricochet off the wall, it got stuck.

“Huh?” Jack uttered in confusion.

Jack pulled the handle of the axe with some force and he stumbled backward as it came out of the wall. There was a black hole against the orange-lit rock. He tried to look through it, but it was too dark. Jack quickly glanced around for any guards, the one from earlier was already on his way back up the hill leading to the entrance. Jack readied his pickaxe, and swung, striking around the edge of the hole and revealing more darkness. ‘What is this?’ he pondered as the hole became larger. After several well-placed swings, Jack had smashed open an entrance to an unexplored area of the cave.

He leaned his pickaxe against the side of the entrance, his palms felt cold after letting go. Jack picked up the lantern and entered the spacious hidden cavern. The lantern reflected a green glint into his eye, he shielded his face from the green light. As he slowly moved his arm down, he was dumbfounded by the sight.

“Wha-”

‘This... This can’t be real!’ Jack stood in front of an abundance of large logorite crystals. Raw logorite of all sorts of shapes and sizes decorated the interior of the hidden cavern. ‘One... two... no... How far back does this go?!’ The walls of the cave reflected green light from the logorite as Jack’s lantern shone over the stones. ‘This is at least three quotas worth of... Pure logorite...’

Jack turned and peeked his head out of the entrance to the cavern. The number of people in the cave had decreased, ‘Ever since Arthur became Warden we haven’t needed to work as long or as hard... One bucket of ore is enough to be done mining for the day... With this, we may not have to mine at all for some time...’ Jack felt the smooth crystal, he pushed his hand against it and it didn’t budge at all, instead, he put his lantern down and walked out of the cavern.

“Everyone! The sun’s going down! Head back to Logos and rest,” the angel from earlier shouted, her voice echoing through the cave.

Jack didn’t listen, he peeked his head out of the hole and reached for the pickaxe he left outside. Then for the bucket of logorite. He put the bucket down and started to mine. He struck the smooth surface, the axe made a deep thud rather than a clang. Cracks rippled through the interior, he raised the axe and struck again and the cracks divided the crystal into smaller broken shards all over the ground. Jack looked down, picked up a large chunk of logorite, and analyzed the gem’s deep green allure. He had never seen one this large, usually the chunks are about the size of a fingernail. He put the massive piece in the bucket and noticed it was already taking up most of the space inside. Jack remembered the devastation from destroying the mines. ‘With this much logorite... I could...’

“Wow... This is a lot of logorite...” a voice spoke from behind Jack.

Jack quickly turned to see the young angel who had helped others. He stood by the entrance to the cavern, his eyes wide as he observed the abundant amount of crystal. Jack panicked and got on his hands and knees.

“I’m sorry! Please don’t report this to Arthur!” Jack begged.

Jack’s eyes were shut tightly as he listened to his anxious breaths.

“Uh… Do you need help mining all this?” the young angel asked.

Jack looked up. ‘Is he not mad I disobeyed an order? Or that I didn’t report all this logorite I found?’

The angel had short white hair, he wore the common clothing guards wore. His torso was hugged by a white vest, and he had no sleeves. ‘A scout?’ The angel was well-built despite his short stature, his arms were especially toned. He didn’t have a hat that covered his face like the other low-ranking angels. He looked soft, there was an innocence in his eyes that made him appear childish.

“Yeah- some... Help would... Be nice?” Jack awkwardly asked.

A shiver ran down Jack’s spine, but the angel just nonchalantly walked forward and got started immediately. His single strike shattered the logorite into huge chunks and he readied to strike again. ‘This kid is strong... We might finish this fast?!’ He thought before he stood up and readied his pickaxe for another swing himself.

The rhythmic thuds of the two pickaxes echoed through the empty cave. Jack felt awkward, he wasn’t used to hospitality from the people who owned him. However he glanced over to the angel and watched him work diligently, ‘Should I tell him I can mine the rest? No... No, he’s gonna report all of this to Arthur... It wouldn’t matter... I can’t use any of this now...’

“I think we need more than one bucket... At least more than ten?” the angel observed.

“Well... We can mine all this logorite but we’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow to collect it,” Jack picked up his lantern and walked towards the exit.

“You’re leaving?” the angel asked.

“Yeah… I’m hungry, I might go get a bite to eat from the merchants and come back tomorrow,” Jack replied.

‘Come on... You wanna go home, right? Just leave the cave so I can collect this without you seeing...’ Jack thought to himself.

“Okay. I’ll finish up here,” the angel continued breaking the logorite.

‘Huh?’ Jack turned around.

“Y-You’re staying?” Jack’s eyes went wide as he looked at the young angel.

“Yup, I’ll get this done and leave,” the angel said.

Jack let out a sigh and walked back in, he put his lantern down and began to mine once more.

“I thought you were done?” the angel asked curiously.

Jack swung the pickaxe into the green crystal.

“I’d rather finish this sooner so you can get out of here too,” Jack admitted.

“You really don’t have to... I’m doing this to get stronger,” the angel replied.

Jack looked at the angel’s toned arms, ‘Stronger? To do what exactly? To keep enslaving us?’

“Why do you wanna get stronger?” Jack asked.

“I...” the angel paused.

The angel set his pickaxe down and put his hand on his chin.as he looked up into thought. Jack tilted his head after waiting several seconds for an answer. ‘What... What is he- Is he dense? Is that it? What’s up with this angel... He’s way too different...’

“I used to live in Helios’s mountains but I was forced into the army. I want to go back, my family are still there,” the angel explained.

‘Helios has mountains?’

“How will getting stronger get you there? Don’t you already live in Helios?” Jack asked the already confused angel.

“Uhm, well if I can fix the issue the demons pose, there wouldn’t be a reason for me to be in the army. I think then I could go and see my family again, at least that’s what I was told,” the angel explained.

Jack looked down at the young angel ‘Fix the issue the demons pose? You people are the issue...’

“Don’t you just need an ability from the Celestial to be strong?” Jack asked.

A loud crack echoed through the cave as a large crystal of logorite rolled on the ground.

“I have one, but it doesn’t feel right to make him fight,” he answered.

The angel raised his palm, a yellow light manifested into a small golden rabbit with jet-black eyes. It stood on two feet and pounced off Eos’s hand, only for him to catch it without his gaze moving. ‘Huh...’

“I mean, look at him... He doesn’t seem like a fighter,” the angel held the rabbit up under its arms.

Jack was shocked to see a spirit-based ability this close, he walked forward and observed the rabbit, the angel set it down on its feet. The golden-furred rabbit rubbed its eyes as if it had just woken up. It looked around and started to frolic around the room, keeping an eye on Jack all the while.

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“Amazing!” Jack uttered unintentionally.

He tried to approach the rabbit but it evaded him and ran to the other end of the cavern.

“He’s scared of most people, sorry. Return,” the angel commanded.

Jack watched the rabbit dissipate into golden dust and return to Eos.

“Why are you mining after hours?” the angel asked.

Jack gulped at the sudden question.

“I’m... If I mine this now, people can just collect it for the next few weeks and have easier shifts for a while, right?” Jack gave a noble response, he couldn’t tell the angel he intended to use some as an explosive.

“Ah, that’s nice of you. I had a feeling you were a good person. What’s your name?” the angel complimented.

Jack stopped and looked down at the green crystal. The words reminded him of what Carol told him. He shook his head. ‘No I’m not...’

“Is something wrong?” the angel asked.

“Oh, uh... My name is Jack,” he stated.

“Jack? Jack Eldritch?” the angel immediately replied.

‘Oh no...’ Jack felt his heart sink.

“People used to talk a lot about you in Helios, I never knew why though, you must help people a lot!” Eos concluded innocently.

“Haha?” Jack laughed awkwardly.

Jack tried to focus on swinging the pickaxe down on the last large chunk of logorite. The crystal split in two from the strike and crumbled into smaller shards.

“Well, we broke up all of it, we can come and fill as many buckets as we can and people don’t need to work for the next few weeks...” Jack wiped the warm sweat off his cold forehead.

He picked up the lantern and left the hidden cavern, the angel followed.

“You said you got forced into the army?” Jack asked.

“Yeah... Mom always told me to stay out of the forest or else I’d get in trouble, I guess it’s my fault,” the angel replied.

“No it’s not,” Jack replied quickly.

‘I knew they were making us slaves... But the children are forced to fight? Unforgivable...’

“It’s not our fault we were forced into this war with the demons. I think... I think it’s just unfortunate circumstances,” Jack told the young angel.

They reached a pathway upwards in the darkness, torches lit the stone-carved hill snaking back and forth up the side of the wall.

“Unfortunate circumstances?” the angel looked puzzled as he thought about what Jack told him.

“Were you really doing anything wrong? No. No one should be forced to work for others,” said Jack.

They got to the top of the hill. Jack looked to the right, and gazed over the lower area of the cave they just came from. The hidden cavern was barely visible in the wide chasm. Jack turned to see the path extend further upwards in the opposite direction this time, torches lit the rest of the path to follow.

“Yeah, I think so too,” the angel answered. “I haven’t seen my family for over a year,” he looked down.

“Over a year huh... I never met my parents, they uh... They were executed… A week before I came to Logos… It was actually about a year ago…” Jack replied.

“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that,” the angel apologized.

The two continued in silence for a few minutes.

“Oh, I forgot to ask, what is your name?” Jack asked.

“Eos,” the young boy stated.

“Eos. That’s a pretty cool name,” Jack nodded.

Jack didn’t realize it but he enjoyed the conversation, he wasn’t used to it. After a year of being alone, he didn’t mind the friendly angel.

* * *

Jack and Eos eventually made it to the top of the mines, a large opening allowed the entrance to be half-lit by the moon.

“Where were you before you came to Logos?” Eos asked.

“Hmm, I grew up in Torovince, received full education by fourteen, graduated, and then was initially transferred to Roccan. Stayed there for two years and mined there before I got transferred here,” Jack recalled.

They walked away from the large entrance to the mines. Jack looked up at the dark blue sky, the lanterns shone against the ground, and the light reflected off dark green foliage.

“How were those places?” Eos asked. “I’ve only ever been to Helios, Logos, and the places in the forests between them.”

‘Places in the forest?’

“Torovince sucks, the rich non-unified folk from Ulkay just live off the people while licking the boots of the hybrids. Roccan has a port with some nice scenery, but it’s just Logos without the farms, to be honest. Although going out to sea doesn’t seem bad, if I didn’t end up here, that’s where I’d want to be,” Jack explained. “You said some other place in the forest?” Jack curiously asked, he had never heard about it.

“Yeah, should be on the side opposite from the path to Helios... Not sure if it’s a place though... But I’ve seen some angels go there recently so I checked it out,” the angel answered.

“The path to Helios?” Jack scratched his head.

He recalled when he and Carol wandered into those parts.

“Yeah, it’s by the cliffside, all the way at the end,” Eos added with emphasis.

‘I’m pretty sure there’s nothing there... Nothing but trees...’

“Since you’re an angel, you should be able to go to all sorts of places, like Andurill or Dorad. I’d want to go to Welis,” Jack mentioned.

“Well, maybe if you were a noble or higher class, I’m just a low-class scout,” the angel replied.

“Scout? Like the scouts who go to Pandora? Shouldn’t scouts be overseas?”

“I was kind of lucky, the day I left military school, I was assigned to House Pendragon, the same day Arthur became the warden of Logos. Before that House Pendragon and House Lightbringer dealt with the threat of the demons, now it’s just the Lightbringers. I still get scouting duties here though…” Eos explained.

Eos explained his scouting duties. Jack continued to walk forward through the murky woods as he thought about what the angel said. ‘That day...’ A branch cracked as Jack stepped through the dense foliage, he remembered Alexander beating Carol. ‘How much longer am I gonna do this...’ Jack looked down at the path he’d walked over countless times. Each tree, its branches, and the fallen logs around it. The various species of foliage, Jack almost felt like he could remember each type he would see.

“Jack,” Eos called.

‘How much longer am I gonna do this...Mining over and over again... Every day...’

“Jack?” Eos repeated.

‘Nothing has changed... There’s nothing my life is even worth other than as a slave...’

“Jack?” Eos tried again.

“Sorry! I got lost in... Thought… What kind of work do scouts get here in Logos?” Jack apologized.

Eos didn’t think much of it and returned to his ramble.

They neared the edge of the forest while Eos continued talking about his daily duties. The path stretched to the town, fences surrounded the fields of crops. In the center of the brown buildings orange and yellow light seeped out of the town, and people in the distance looked tiny as they went about their evening. ‘Nothing has changed...’ Jack repeated to himself, his body felt the familiar chill of hopeless despair. Eos and Jack had reached the town, lanterns illuminated the dark night. Toward the center of the town, crowds of people could be heard conversing.

“No! Let go! Stop! Stop it!” A woman cried.

Jack turned to see a group of newly imported non-unified, they awaited instruction in a single file line. ‘This season’s new slaves... Huh... Isn’t that... Lydia?’ Jack looked to the left down the path and saw the lady who lived across from his house, she ran forward but was stopped by two angels. Lydia struggled to get free, she tried her hardest to push through them. Another angel put two non-unified newborns into the back of a caravan. ‘She had a kid? When?’

Lydia was one of the farmers, older than Jack but shorter. Her eyes were blue and her long blonde hair was tied back. Her clothes were covered in dirt, and she appeared bruised in some places. ‘Did she put up a fight?’ Jack felt bad for her, but he also remembered what she had said to him during his first week. The woman slipped through the angels and ran forward to the wagon, they tried to stop her but tore the sleeve of her white shirt. She grabbed the back of the caravan as she stumbled.

“Please! Give him back!” she begged desperately.

The angels tore her off the black caravan. The reins were connected to two horses, held by an angel wearing white robes with green details ‘They’re from House Rael?’ Jack felt uneasy, the angel let go of the reins.

“Persistent maggot!” the angel groaned, it was a woman.

She grabbed an iron staff and stepped off the caravan. Jack was surprised to notice the angel’s voice, something sounded familiar.

“Ugh... No one can bear to tolerate your lack of respect and dignity,” the female angel complained. “You should be grateful we’re giving them a much more fulfilling life,” she raised the iron staff to smack the woman.

Jack squinted. That’s the same bitch who hit me... Did she get promoted? Of course, the prick would go to the whole house of pricks...’ The angel swung the staff down and the metal struck with a loud thud. Everyone was shocked to see Eos block the staff with his arm. ‘Holy shit!’ Eos held his stance, using the short pause to grasp the staff. Jack’s head whipped between where Eos just stood, and where he was now.

“You low-class scum! What do you think you’re doing!” the angel shouted.

She tried to pull the staff away but couldn’t. Eos just looked slightly embarrassed as she grunted angrily.

“Can you stop?” Eos asked, “Y-you shouldn’t be attacking the people who work for House Pendragon,” Eos instructed her with an awkward smile.

“You dare command someone of higher-”

The door of the wagon opened and she stopped.

A blonde angel who wore a half-buttoned white shirt poked his head out. He rubbed his hand through his messy blonde hair, and let out an audible yawn. Jack recognized his clothing and the insignia of a green fist over his chest, ‘That’s one of Alexander’s lieutenants... What is he doing here?’

“Hey, can we hurry up and get-” Lector started to ask, but she immediately complied and took the reins of the stone horses.

“My apologies Lieutenant Lector,” she apologized quickly.

“That’s more like it, alright I’m going back to bed now,” the angel turned to go back into the wagon but stopped as his eyes noticed Jack.

Jack looked away to avoid eye contact, ‘Why did he look at me...’ Jack looked back, Lector was still gazing at him with an intense focus. ‘He’s still looking at me...’ Jack sighed as his eyes to the right. Jack heard the door to the wagon close, and the horse’s hooves pressed into the dirt as it began to walk. They turned down the path Eos and Jack came from and went on their way toward Helios.

“Are you okay?” Eos asked Lydia, her knees in the dirt.

Lydia just watched the wagon roll away with the newborn children, tears streamed down her face. Her fingers curled into a fist, grasping at the mud.

“Do you need a hand?” Eos reached forward but she slapped his hand away.

“I don’t want your help! Give me back my daughter!” she roared.

Tears poured down her face. Eos stepped back as some of the townsfolk went to comfort her. She lifted her hand, clenching dirt in her first and whipped it at Eos.

“Monster!” she cried.

Eos shielded his eyes from the dirt. Jack pulled Eos away by the arm as she continued to wail. Eos continued to stare at the woman with a worried expression, his mouth hung slightly open in confusion.

“Why did you let her slap you?” Jack asked.

Eos looked up at him confused.

“I mean, you stopped that staff really fast. Pretty sure that slap was a lot slower,” Jack explained.

Eos looked at the crowds of people. The people in the towns center all laughed and enjoyed their meals under the black night sky.

“I wasn’t expecting her to... I just wanted to help,” Eos replied.

Among the crowds of cheering non-unified, several parties of people glared at the angel with intense hatred.

“I’m new here, but... I get the feeling they hate me. A lot of the people...” Eos observed the crowd.

Jack looked at him for a moment before he looked up at the grey clouds against the black sky. ‘I hate a lot of angels.’

“It’s not that they hate you, they just hate angels in general...” Jack tried to reassure him.

Eos tilted his head, he looked even more confused.

“That still means they hate me?” Eos looked down.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say you... Uh,” Jack didn’t know what he could say. “You shouldn’t take it so personally, there is more to you than just being an angel…” said Jack.

“I don’t get it?” Eos scratched his head.

Jack was about to try and explain once more until a crowd of men began to cheer. Jack and Eos glanced at the crowd, the group moved toward the western side of the town. The sound of large steps marched through Logos, coming from the direction people were headed.

“Oh, I almost forgot the council meeting is tomorrow morning!” Eos recalled.

‘Council meeting?’

“Sorry Jack, I’ll talk to you tomorrow I have to go! I forgot I have a report to send!” Eos ran towards the crowd in a rush.

Jack walked towards the crowd, curious to see what everyone else was focused on.

“It’s the queen!”, “Where is she?”, “She’s a beauty!”, “It’s the chieftains of the Hirian clans!” the people in the crowd all shouted.

They cheered for a large party of people on the backs of horses, wearing clothes Jack didn’t recognize. Burly soldiers clad in black armor, with a green robe hanging off their left shoulder. Slim women dressed in a blue robe, with swords sheathed at their waists. Tall men and women with long hair, wearing a purple robe and holding long bows over their shoulder.

‘Nothing to do with me...’ Jack turned and walked away from the commotion, he wasn’t interested. Not until he heard the crowd scream even louder in excitement. Jack glanced back to see a massive beast with brown fur that towered over the houses. The beast’s head had large horns curling downwards on each side of its face. Its legs were twice the size of the house, armored with bright silver plates. Above the beast, sat a woman.

Her legs were crossed as she sat on a throne. She had long straight black hair that reached past her shoulders and cold blue eyes. She wore pristine white silks wrapped around her body but exposed her shoulders. She had two marks going down her face, they. ‘Is that a tattoo?’

Her dignified eyes glanced at the crowd and the men roared once more in excitement. ‘They can’t even see her from down here...’ Jack turned and walked away from the crowd. The people followed the Hirian troops toward the north part of the town as they made their way toward Helios. As soon as Jack turned the corner he looked around to see if anyone was around. ‘No one’s here…’ He sprinted towards the rubble and debris of Carol’s destroyed house.

Jack carefully stepped over the broken and charred wood. He tried to carefully walk over a part of the rubble but it gave out. The floor fell into the large hole that was once Carol’s basement. Jack fell into the basement, his back slamming on a pile of debris. He looked around awkwardly, he didn’t feel hurt anywhere. Jack pushed himself up and the floor under his hand shifted slightly, ‘Woah…’ He slowly stood up and walked gently onto the stable ground of what was once a floor.

Jack walked over to some rubble that had been positioned in the corner. He lifted a plank to see a single glass device with a tank attached, and a small pile of logorite. Jack pulled the logorite out of his pockets and added them to the pile. He pulled his pocket’s inside out and dumped as much of the green dust into the pile as he could.

Jack stood up to leave, checking the decently sized pile of logorite. Some of the bits that were once powder had been compacted during Hemhir. A strange feeling came over him as he thought about it. ‘I’ve been collecting tiny bits of logorite since Hemhir, throughout Grivar and then Vagril... And now it’s Shauran again... An entire year of my life...’ Jack sighed as he covered the logorite with some debris. ‘How long am I going to do this... How long before I get caught...’ A thought came back to his head, ‘Wait...’ Jack stopped and looked up at the Celestial, it towered majestically over the town.

‘Those angels from House Rael went toward Helios as well... Aren’t newborn children supposed to go south to Torovince?’