Chapter 16: Jack; Shauran 22nd, 344SR; 11:40

The strands of grass slipped between Jack's hand resting against the cold dirt, he was face first on his stomach by the broken houses in Logos. Not too far away, Alexander Rael's body lay on the ground. Jack couldn't move his body or even his eyes. The inferno of green flames grew behind Alexander's corpse, the noble's lifeless eyes were peering into Jack's.

Jack blinked, and his heart skipped a beat as Alexander's elbow lifted upright with his palm against the ground. With every blink of disbelief, Alexander Rael moved, slowly rising until he stood on two feet. Blood dripped from his open stomach. He stood tall on two feet, his head leaning to the side before it cracked towards Jack. Alexander limped forward, dragging his other foot behind him. Every step seemed to rumble the ground. Ripples of fear course through his body with each step the noble took. Alexander's form started to distort as he closed in, he grew bigger, spikes protruded from his shoulder. The silhouette in front of the green flames reached forward. Jack immediately shut his eyes.

***

Jack gasped as his eyes shot open. He was met with the surprised gaze of a bald man looking directly at him from the other side of the caravan. The cloudy sky outside the caravan allowed for slivers of moonlight to shine over Jack's eyes. A light drizzle of rain pattered against puddles outside.

"You're awake?" the man asked.

Jack barely listened to the question, his mind was hazy. His head and back ached, as he lifted himself off the rough wood, only to fall right back against it. The caravan wasn't moving. Jack felt his consciousness sink in and out of the hard surface he rested on, despite it making his neck sore. His eyes felt heavy and wanted to close until he recognized the voices of people outside the caravan. He tried to push himself up but his shoulders suddenly stung. 'Ow... Where am I?' He turned his head to the left and saw Ajal leaning against the back entrance of the caravan. 'Oh right...' Jack recalled the events that took place before he fell asleep.

"How long was I out?" Jack asked, holding the back of his groggy head.

"Throughout most of the trip so far, two days," the bald man answered. "I'm surprised you slept through most of their stupendous banter, I envy you, the name's Eckleflorby the way, Eckleflor Italnum"

"Everything hurts... I'm Jack... Jack Eldritch..."

"I've heard."

Jack looked at his body and noticed he didn't have a shirt on, just the stained brown pair of pants from Logos. Several stained bandages were wrapped around his arms and chest. He tried to stand up, and Eckleflor raised his hands in an attempt to caution him. Jack stood up, stepped over the short rail, and landed outside the caravan.

"Oh hey, you're awake," said Ajal.

"Woah, Jack slow down!" John suddenly shouted.

"Jack, be careful!" Reinhardt warned.

Jack looked around, everyone stood around the back of the caravan looking at him. Jack noticed Franklin and Ben were there as well, he cringed when he saw Franklin. 'Why is he here...'

"Are you okay? You were a mess, I didn't think you'd wake up," Sarah asked.

Jack remembered the last thing she said to him at Logos. He didn't want to respond. Sarah raised an eyebrow as Jack looked around.

"Where are all the kids? Did they make it out of Logos?" Jack asked groggily.

"Adam and Lydia took them to the town, they weren't waking up despite breathing normally. It's too risky for them to stay around us anyway," said Reinhardt.

"Oh, yeah that makes sense... Who's Adam?" Jack asked.

"That guy," Reinhardt pointed at a black-haired man at the top of a hill.

'Woah... Wait a minute, where are we?' Jack turned his head and his attention was drawn to the massive bridge made of stone that stretched over a calm river, it arched over the water, and at the front and back was a stone fort that acted as both an outpost and gate to the bridge. Across the body of water were some hills, and past them was a massive set of mountains. Jack turned to the right and looked past Ajal to notice a town with a port full of docked boats, turning further, he saw the mountain he had mined in. 'If the logorite mines are over there... That's Ulkay...' They stood at the top of a hill a short distance from the cliff side, between Ulkay and the outpost at the front of the bridge.

"That's weird..." Ajal muttered to himself as he analyzed the bridge.

"Why did we stop here?" Jack asked curiously.

He turned towards Adam who had walked a short distance away, 'Huh?' Adam crouched down and seemed to grab something in the grass. He stood and pulled a handle upwards, revealing a secret pathway.

"Over here," Reinhardt shouted as he approached the hole.

Jack watched Adam descend into the hole in the ground. It was already quite dark, the only light being that of Ulkay which Reinhardt's silhouette stood in front of. Jack approached where Adam had descended, but noticed Ajal hadn't followed. Jack turned back to the channel and noticed Ajal crouched down at the edge, looking down at the river. 'What is he doing?' Jack walked over to Ajal as the others entered the hole Adam entered. Eckleflor seemed to watch Jack and Ajal as he followed the others.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

Ajal didn't answer, instead, he just rubbed his eye and continued to squint at the water.

"Hey, Ajal..." Jack called a little louder.

"Huh?" Ajal turned around quickly, his expression was somewhat drained.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just... Couldn't sleep in that cramped box... By the way, that's a strange bridge,"

"Huh? The bridge?" Jack turned towards the large stone structure.

'I've never seen one before... Across that bridge... Is Hiria...' Jack thought as he observed the grey stone bridge. It was engraved with a strange symbol that depicted a hollow triangle, each point of the triangle possessing a circle on it.

"I've never seen a bridge before... How does it stand so tall? How did they build it over the water?" Jack asked Ajal.

"That's... What I'm still trying to figure out," Ajal rubbed his chin. "I don't think this is a natural river... In fact... I don't know what this is..."

"Jack! Ajal! What are you doing over there?" Sarah broke their conversation.

"Forget it, it probably doesn't matter anyway," said Ajal.

Ajal stood up and turned around, he glanced back at the water one last time. Jack stopped and looked at him, his eyes were wrinkled but he still looked concerned about the bridge. They made their way over to the entrance. The hole the others had entered was just a tiny staircase into the ground.

"Can I even get in here?" Ajal worried.

Ajal descended into the hole, moving his head to the side to avoid banging it against the ceiling. Jack watched Ajal disappear into the dark hole one step at a time, the sound of him landing on the ground below reached his ears. Jack followed and immediately noticed just how steep it was. 'I should probably close this...' He pulled the latch down behind him.

Jack was surrounded by nothing but darkness as he closed the hole. The stone steps were bumpy, but as he reached the bottom he felt the wet stone ground. Jack looked up to see Ajal's silhouette enter a lit room. Jack followed and was surprised to enter a somewhat small room lit by lanterns with a design he didn't recognize.

There were four other paths from the current room, Jack noticed that Franklin, Lydia, Ben, and Adam weren't there. The ground had a dirty red rug on it, littered with wet footprints. Around the room were several benches which surrounded a rectangular table. The table was cluttered with four clay cups and multiple scraps of paper, one of the pages with several strange shapes on it caught Ajal's eye. Sarah stepped in front of him and Jack.

"Here you go. You two really need to change," Sarah handed a set of folded-up black clothes to both Jack and Ajal. "You can use the open rooms over there to change, we have a lot of extra clothes so if you need them... Yeah," Sarah pointed to a separate hallway in the corner.

Eckleflor stood next to the entrance to that hallway, observing the various faces around the room closely as he twirled his mustache. Ajal walked past Sarah and picked up the piece of paper on the desk, he lifted it up and analyzed it closely.

"So, where are we?" Ajal asked while still staring at the page.

Jack looked at the page and noticed it had four strange shapes on it, one on the top, one on the bottom, and a large one through the middle which divided the middle but we're separated by two jagged lines.

"What is that?" Jack asked curiously.

"That's a map of Grelt, stolen from some guards in Roccan, a lot of the stuff here is stolen from there, Reinhardt answered as he walked out from one of the doors with two wooden cups in hand. "We would be here," Reinhardt pointed to the left side of the smallest landmass.

Reinhardt set them down on the table as Jack stood there, fixated on the map. 'This... Is Grelt?' The red-haired man picked up the other cups on the table and took them to the room he came from. Ajal handed the map to Jack as he headed into the room Sarah pointed to. Jack continued to gaze at the map, on each of the shapes, several words had been positioned. The small continent in the center labeled 'Kamino' caught his eye.

"Logos..." Jack read the name of the town in the center of the small continent.

His eyes trailed around the land mass, north of the town was a pathway to the mines, passed the mines was the forest labeled, 'Rover's Glade.' Even further north of that, was a grey kingdom labeled 'Helios.' The illustration of Helios surrounded the Celestial, it was one of the biggest symbols on the map.

"We're here, this is a safe house we resistance members use to hide from the alliance, we have a few of these littered about," John pointed at the circle just below Ulkay. "The angels know about these though, so it's not totally safe, but we can at least stay the night."

"Jack, you should... Change clothes maybe?" George commented on Jack's appearance.

Jack looked down and was reminded he had no shirt on and his pants were stained. 'Oh right...' He picked up the pile of clothing and made his way over to where Ajal had gone. Eckleflor glanced at Jack as he walked by into the hallway, there were two doors on either side of a rectangular space, two doors on one side were closed, and on the other just one. As Jack approached the open door, the closed door next to it was opened by Franklin.

The slave Jack resented stood there with wide eyes. He wore a similar black camouflage that Reinhardt and the others wore. Jack ignored him and continued to the open room.

"I've been meaning to say this, but I'm sorry, for uh-" Franklin awkwardly uttered but Jack slammed the door on him.

"Sorry for what... Being an idiot?" Jack muttered to himself.

The room was pitch black, Jack stood still and looked around for a few minutes as his eyes adjusted. There was a small bed with white sheets, the walls were carved out of the same stone as the rest of the safe house. Jack laid the clothes down on the bed and quickly removed his own. His dirty pants flopped on the floor with an unnatural weight, a slight jingle went unnoticed.

'I can't look back... Logos is gone... The angels are gonna search for the slaves...' He pulled the black shirt over his head, it was somewhat tight but it felt like he had packs protecting parts of his body. The full-sleeved shirt didn't feel any heavier though despite the added reinforcements. Jack pulled the camo pants up and picked up his old clothes, he felt a weight in the pocket.

"Oh yeah... These..." Jack muttered in disappointment.

He pulled out the assortment of shiny gold items he found in Logos, they served him no purpose. Jack stuffed them into his new pocket as he exited the room. Jack looked at the other rooms and noticed they had all been open now, he turned right and made his way back to the central room.

"Wait! But why?!" Franklin stuttered in confusion.

"Exactly what I said. Seriously, stop asking me, you already asked like three times in the caravan..." Ajal demanded.

'What are they talking about?' Ajal and Franklin both wore the black vest with camouflaged pants. Franklin's clothes appeared considerably looser since he was much scrawnier than Ajal. Jack turned to the left when he heard John laughing to himself.

"What's going on with them?" Jack asked John.

"Oh, Franklin keeps asking Ajal to storm Helios," John chuckled.

"Franklin's head might be more empty than Alexander Rael's, to be honest," Sarah stated.

"Hey! Say that to my face ugly!" Franklin snapped.

"Ugly?!" Sarah snapped in response to the comment, the two entered a light scuffle.

"Enough... Stop being idiots and just rest... We leave in twenty-four hours," Reinhardt noticed Jack as he walked into the room.

Reinhardt picked up a small bag on the table and tossed it to Jack. As he caught it he felt the weight of the bag flop into his palm. Jack opened the bag and was puzzled to see oats. 'Are these from Logos? Never actually tried these...' Jack turned the bag over and poured some of the oats into his palm, a small pile of the dry flakes piled up on his hand. He scarfed down a handful of oats into his mouth, discovering a bland taste that only made him regret eating. 'Ugh... This is terrible...' He chewed the dry oats but he immediately regretted it 'This tastes worse than bread... And it's so dry...'.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The room was filled with the sound of spoons clanging against cups, Sarah and Franklin cursing each other's existences, and the sound of bubbling water boiling over the fireplace. Reinhardt was drinking something out of his mug. John took a bite of a banana, then put his spoon into the mug, and pulled out some sloppy oats. 'Why do his oats look even grosser?'

"Excuse me," said Eckleflor.

"Oh, sorry," Jack apologized and moved out of Eckleflor's way, he came from the path to the changing rooms.

Eckleflor still wore the clothes from Logos, much cleaner and untouched compared to Jack and Ajal. John passed the bananas to Lydia who simply picked one for herself to eat before she placed it next to a container of sugar on the table. George picked up that sugar and poured it into his mug generously, mixing it with a spoon before he reached in and pulled out a strange light brown chunky paste that looked similar to John's oats.

"Don't put so much sugar into your oats! You don't even need that much..." John complained although Jack thought whatever he was eating with that banana was similar.

"Oats? Just plain oats... And only that many... Damn..." Ajal muttered as he got up and walked into one of the rooms where Reinhardt got the mugs.

Ajal returned with two mugs and handed one to Jack. He took the bag of oats and poured some into his mug. He gave the oats back to Jack as he walked over to the table, got the sugar, and poured it in. Then gave the bag to Jack.

"Why are you handing me all of this?" Jack asked.

"Because you look like you have no idea what you're doing. I just watched you swallow those oats dry," Ajal replied.

"Really?" John chuckled, struggling to chew as he laughed. "As expected of the guy who beat Alexander Rael, Jack's too strong."

Jack felt confused, he had no idea how to reply to that as he finished pouring sugar into his cup. Ben came and took the oats and sugar from Jack, and walked back to the corner he sat in.

Ajal walked over to the pot of boiling water, dipped his mug in, and started to mix the contents. 'I've never... Made my own food before... ' Jack walked over to the pot with a puzzled look on his face. The heat from the fire smothered his hand. He dipped his mug in and filled the cup to the top. The water spilled out and slightly burned his thumb, he shook the cup and a lot of the overflowing water spilled out.

Jack looked into the cup, the oats seemed to be soaking in the water, forming bubbles along the surface of every flake. He mixed the cup and noticed the oats absorb more and more of the water. 'Oh...' He approached the table and poured the sugar in. Jack poured the sugar for several seconds 'How much do I put in...' As the sugar piled up to the top of the cup, John took notice.

"Hey! That's more than George took!" John suddenly jumped out of his seat.

"Ah- Sorry, I-"

"Don't apologize, John great minds think alike. If only you were smart enough to understand," George sobbed.

"I'm not an idiot! We have a limited supply! You're the idiot!" John snapped.

Jack looked down and noticed Lydia looking directly at him, he didn't really know what to say. She just looked back at him with a seemingly annoyed face, 'Why is she looking right at me...' She looked down at the yellow banana peel in front of her, brown dots were sprinkled all around the surface of the peel.

"Sorry," Lydia apologized.

Jack immediately remembered the way she had treated him before. He stood still looking directly at her. 'Huh...' Lydia looked up and noticed his expressionless face. Jack felt anger build up within him. He looked away, walked back over to the corner, and sat down. Reached down for the spoon in his cup only to find that the oats had become a sloppy and sticky brown paste.

"I'll be staying in Ulkay. Thank you all for everything you've done. But the angels will find me again sooner or later... And I'll be sent back to Logos," Lydia cleared her throat and spoke up.

Something she said caught Jack's attention, but he looked up as he took a bite of the oats. He was immediately overwhelmed by the gross texture and consistently bland flavor, there was definitely too much sugar. Jack's mouth was overwhelmed by sweetness but barely any to offset the flavor and texture of nothingness. Instead, the two seemed to just coexist rather than join together. Jack turned to Ajal, he looked even more tired than earlier as he slowly chewed on the oats.

"Our best bet against the alliance is to get Ajal to the remaining leaders of the resistance," said Adam.

"My best bet off this rock is Murdok... The person... Not the place... Well, maybe he's in that town..." Ajal rambled.

Jack noticed his head swing slightly. 'We were traveling for two days, right? Did he seriously not sleep at all?'

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, what the heck are you!" Franklin directed the attention to Ajal.

"That's a rude question... Why do I even have to answer this... Shouldn't divine beings be common knowledge... This sucks," Ajal groaned.

"Hey man, what do you mean you're a divine being, what even is that?" Franklin walked up to Ajal and stood by to listen.

Ajal sighed and looked down, 'What the hell is wrong with Franklin? Did an angel hit him too hard on the head?' Jack looked at Franklin with disgust. Ajal looked up and stood.

"I could go for some noodle soup right now..." Ajal stared at the ceiling in awe. "Jack, I didn't take it in when it was happening but you used a Spirit Ignition to move that debris off of yourself," Ajal suddenly recalled. "Tell me, what color do you see?" Ajal asked Jack as he took hold of his finger.

'What? He noticed my Spirit Arts during that crazy fight?' Franklin tilted his head in confusion, Jack was also confused. The others were intrigued by the sudden conversation. But to all of their surprise and without warning, Ajal snapped his finger backward. Jack's jaw dropped instantly, and Ajal's expression remained tired. Sarah gasped and Lydia looked away, Eckleflor leaned forward in disbelief.

"This guy's nuts!" Franklin shouted with his hands on his head.

"Ajal!" Sarah shouted with her hands in front of her cringing face.

"Why would you-"

"Jack, focus..." Ajal pointed at his broken finger and cut Jack off.

'How the hell is he still calm... No...'

"How the hell did you not flinch from that?!" Jack shouted.

"Focus or else I'm gonna have to do it again!" Ajal said with an annoyed tone.

'Was that a threat?' Jack breathed as he looked at the finger bent backward making a perfect right angle with the other half. As he focused, Jack noticed the finger become surrounded by a purple aura and began to twist back into place.

"Spirit Arts for a divine being is easy, but even some people are natural at certain levels. Jack is a good example of that, Jack what color was that light?" Ajal asked.

"Pur-ple?" Jack answered slowly, unsure of himself.

"Wait, what light?" John asked.

"Yeah, I didn't see anything?" Sarah scratched her head.

"You're either a natural or something traumatic happened to you, I'm not sure," Ajal told Jack.

'Traumatic...' Jack scratched his head awkwardly.

"What light? What are you talking about?" John asked again.

Ajal walked over to Franklin and lightly tapped him on the head with the back of the wooden spoon.

"I can't save you people, I have to get back to my home planet... After I'm gone this... hybrid alliance would just retake its place. Maybe, just maybe, you can take the knowledge of Spirit Arts to this resistance, and you'll have a chance to live a good life. And that's where the majority of us is going," Ajal explained.

The group looked up at Ajal in silence. Jack looked down at the red mist around his fist. 'Back then... I was going to die... But I started to focus... Everything became clear...'

"You said I used an ignition?" Jack asked with a puzzled look.

"Yeah, if you recall what I said before Logos. There are seven levels, you went up to the third," Ajal recounted.

"So... What does that mean?" Ben asked.

"As I said before, the fact he saw the light of my spirit means he's using Spirit Sense, but without the other levels of Spirit Arts, he'd have to be a natural to do so. Jack..." Ajal turned to him and looked down. "You'd be a great tactician with that skill."

'What's a tactician?' Jack just stared up at him in confusion.

"Alright, now you guys, I'm only going to say this once because I don't want to say it again... You better start practicing! Sarah, you were down faster than anyone else. But... Don't feel bad because everyone else went down shortly after... But!" Ajal began instructing the rest of them.

Jack stood up to put his mug away, but Lydia grabbed his wrist. Jack turned to her and squinted, she still looked slightly annoyed.

"Can you walk with me to Ulkay, there's an underground path through there according to that red-haired man..." Lydia suddenly asked, she held her child as well.

"Uh-" Before Jack could finish she pulled him over to the path which led down a short flight of steps, deeper into the darkness.

Lydia suddenly stepped down a flight of stairs, slowly walking down as she held the railing with her left hand.

"Don't move fast or I swear I'll hit you... It's steep..." Lydia stuttered as they slowly walked down the steep dark steps.

Jack's hand trembled, he wanted to get away as soon as he could. She wore black pants as well as the similar white shirt the slaves who farmed in Logos wore, the color easy to follow in the darkness. Jack felt awkward being forced to follow her, he could feel Lydia's hand shaking 'Did she only bring me along because she's scared of the dark?' Jack pulled his hand away.

"What do you want," Jack asked, slightly annoyed.

"Well, it's too dark, I'd- rather not... You know- go alone..." Lydia tried to think of an excuse.

"You could've asked Ajal... or Reinhardt... They're bigger and stronger than me," Jack pointed out.

Lydia turned around, she took a few steps down the stairs.

"Just... Okay, listen... I'm really sorry for the things I said to you... I feel horrible knowing that I said those things and you still helped me... You saved Elliot... I know I have no right to apologize, I blamed you instead of your parents. But even blaming your parents is wrong, this world is cruel..." Lydia explained.

'Blame?' Jack pondered the word she used. "Blame for what?"

"Elliot's father... Was killed for not trying to help clear the debris your parents made... I know they're probably just trying to help... But... Sometimes I think about where I'd be if that had never happened," Lydia revealed.

Jack froze. 'Wait... Would I have... Would Carol have...' Jack began to think of something painful before he suddenly shook his head to forget about it.

"I'm- sorry to hear that," Jack said.

It was the only thing Jack could say, as his thoughts continued to race. 'What if they never closed the mines...'

As they got further along the dark path their eyes slightly adjusted, and the sound of running water grew. 'Is that from up above?' Jack listened to the noise, it didn't sound like running water from above the surface but instead sounded like multiple sources of water crashing down in the distance. Jack and Lydia noticed a light at the end of a long path, however as their eyes adjusted Jack began to make out his surroundings.

The path they were on was not a natural formation. To the right was nothing but a wall of rock, but to their left was a stone rail with many pillars stretching between the rail and the ceiling. The railings had a similar design to a triangle, with three hollow circles at the corners.

"What the..." Lydia looked off the edge of the railing.

It was hard to see, but past the railing was a drop down into a large open cavern, it was so large Jack couldn't see the bottom, but in the distance, he could see multiple sources of water breaking through and crashing down deep below.

"If this... No... If Ulkay is that way... This is all... This is underneath both Kamino and Hiria..." Jack pointed out.

"Hey... Let's not stay down here okay..." Lydia grabbed Jack's wrist, her hand was shaking even more than before.

Jack walked with Lydia down the path, Lydia ignored the left side, but Jack was fixated on it. As his eyes continued to adjust he could almost make out strange structures in the distance near the bottom of the large cave, giant pillars that stretched from the ground to the ceiling, and to Jack's surprise, there were other pillars on the sides of the walls. 'Man... The resistance is amazing... How did they build something like this...' As the two reached the end of the path they came to a long ladder, right next to a lamp. Jack went up first and found himself in a small dark room, but his eyes had adjusted already. The room was similar to the safe house they were just in, but rather it was a single room with a single door. A whistle came from underneath as wind rushed through the cracks. Jack opened the door and found himself outside.

"Holy..." Jack walked forward and looked around.

There was nothing but gray tombstones in front of patches of dirt all around him. He turned and looked up at an old withered tree, just behind it was the river separating Hiria and Kamino. Jack couldn't comprehend the fact that the river was above such a deep and massive chasm. Around the graveyard was a fence, and outside the fence were buildings shrouded in the night's darkness. The graveyard was in front of a church, banners of Helios hung off its walls and swayed back and forth in the wind.

"Ugh... I hate Ulkay." Lydia spat. "All these old people who were lucky enough to survive their lives under the angels... Only to waste away every night drinking until they die... Anyways... Thank you, Jack. I am in your debt," Lydia gave him a bright smile before she walked away.

Jack looked up at the large buildings of Ulkay, and then behind him at the mountains on the other continent. Andurill's outer wall was almost visible from that distance, it was massive compared to Ulkay. He looked back to Lydia only to see that she turned and was looking at him.

"You're not... Coming too?" Lydia asked with a raised brow.

"Huh? No, I... I have to get back to the others," Jack replied, somewhat confused.

"Huh? You heard Ajal... He isn't going to defeat the angels?"

"And?"

"How are we going to become free if the angels are here? Not only that, Ajal is trying to go back to his own planet... Once he's gone the angels will find us all, it's pointless... Why would you want to go?"

'Why would I want to go?' Jack thought back to the burned figure of Alexander Rael, and what he did to Carol.

"I'll-" Jack stopped, his hands trembling with something that wasn't fear, a sharp throbbing pain in his head reminded him of the abuse he received.

"You'll...?"

"I'm putting everything on Ajal, I'm weak..." Jack held his head low, but he looked up confidently "But I want to help and make a change myself."

Lydia looked at him for several seconds and gulped.

"Hmm... I think you're insane, but definitely brave for putting your life on the line. Good luck Jack, tell everyone I wished them good luck as well."

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

"And be careful! Seriously I thought you were dead for the entire ride to Ulkay!"

"Ha... Ha?" Jack laughed awkwardly.

Jack watched her walk away before he turned towards the tree. He opened the hidden door, and to his surprise, he saw Eckleflor in the middle of climbing up.

"Oh, you were coming to Ulkay too? Sorry for not waiting," Jack apologized.

"Oh uh, no worries, I was just going for a walk you know, and then I found this ladder and now we're here! Ha-ha?" Eckleflor scrambled.

'What?'

"Uhm, I was about to head back-"

"Back? Yes, back! Great, let's go!" Eckleflor insisted.

'Why is he so jittery? He watched me sleep too... This guy is kind of strange...'

Eckleflor scrambled up the ladder and smiled, 'This guy is from Logos? I don't remember seeing him around that much...' His mustache seemed to perfectly cover his mouth, not to mention his eyebrows and bald head gave him an intense look. At his side, Jack noticed Eckleflor had a knife sheathed to his side similar to the one Sarah had, but he didn't think much of it. Jack stood in wait, Eckleflor was closer to the ladder, so he waited for him to go first. However, Eckleflor waited for Jack to go down the ladder. 'Uh...'

"You... Gonna go?" Jack gestured towards the ladder.

"Oh, yes, yes! Don't worry, I'll go!" Eckleflor hurried down the ladder.

'What an oddball... He's from Logos?'

Jack followed down the ladder, sliding down and hitting the cold stone at the bottom. He turned to see Eckleflor right behind him, the man rubbed his hands together before he turned around. Jack reared his head back as he noticed how close Eckleflor stood.

"Uh, yes let's go shall we," Eckleflor started walking slowly.

"Sure?" Jack agreed, the bald man's behavior came off as odd.

The two of them walked back along the dark path, Jack continued to look at the chasm which he still couldn't comprehend. 'How is this under the bridge? Is the bridge connected to those big pillars?' Eckleflor didn't say much, Jack thought of something to make conversation. He didn't notice Eckleflor starting to slow down.

"Hey, you came from Logos, right? Were you a farmer or a miner?" Jack questioned.

"A farmer. Originally from Roccan," Eckleflor answered quickly, he didn't sound so jittery anymore.

"I've never seen you around though... Where was your house?" Jack turned his head and asked.

"I was in the southeast section of Logos, I lived in the middle inner houses, I had to evacuate as soon as I heard the commotion, but I left most of my belongings... As little of them as I had..."

"Most of your belongings?" Jack looked up in thought.

He didn't notice Eckleflor's pace hasten.

"I found a house that looked like someone rushed out, and then I found this stuff," Jack turned to Eckleflor and pulled out the gold pendant he had picked up.

Eckleflor put his hands behind his back quickly.

"It was in an abandoned house in Logos, I don't know what to do with it," Jack handed the pendant to Eckleflor.

"This is- actually mine..." Eckleflor pointed out.

"Huh?" Jack looked at Eckleflor with a confused expression.

"I- I didn't want to say anything on the caravan, but these are very important to me."

"Oh... Well, here you go," Jack pulled the other gold items out of his pocket.

"Wait- what?" Eckleflor stuttered.

"I don't really know what to do with them... And if it's yours I should probably return it."

Eckleflor took the luxurious items, shifting the golden coin in his hand. Eckleflor stood still for a moment as he continued to analyze the items, Jack turned to continue on.

"Oscar Gordon's ring, with this, my dream has a chance to come true. Thank you, Jack... Truly... I don't think I would've ever hoped to meet someone like you."

"Oh... Thanks? Whose Oscar Gordon?" Jack scratched his nose.

"I only know him by his name, information about him is hard to find."

"Was he a slave?"

"Not- exactly... he lived at least a hundred years before us. The Gordon family were renowned jewelers, known for making beautiful aesthetics from a golden ethore somewhere on the continent. However because that material was very scarce, they only made a few, but they are all unique and sought after by many," Eckleflor explained.

"Golden ethore?" Jack muttered under his breath, he hadn't heard of the term before.

"Ore reinforced by ether that came off of Celestial gifts. The color usually depends on the nature of the ether."

"What about that pendant? Is that one too?"

"Oh, this? No, this is... Mine."

"Whose the kid in the picture?"

"Me."

"Oh."

Jack looked at the boy in the pendant, he looked nothing like the Eckleflor standing in front of him. The boy had a long face and an odd hairstyle, but the same narrow and sharp eyes as Eckleflor. 'People can change a lot...' Jack looked at Eckleflor walk with his chin up and a spring in his step, he seemed calm and sure of himself.

"Come on, we should hurry back. I have to get you all to Andurill after all," Eckleflor walked in front of Jack, back towards the safe house.