Chapter 89 - Fear

Hannah had been pretty quiet the rest of the evening, mostly chewing on her cheek in thought and avoiding Jack. Now, though, she had barged into his room with a torrent of questions. Jack was starting to regret having told her anything at all.

“Explain it to me again. In the dungeon, could they control you?”

“Sort of? It’s hard to define, because I wanted to go crazy and kill stuff anyway, so it was more like me giving in to the urges and letting them drive the car.”

“And were they hostile towards you?”

“No. Not really. They didn’t seem to like me very much but there was some sense of comradery I guess you could say? It was more like they were mad I was denying them for so long.”

“By denying them, you mean your urges to kill and slaughter?”

“More or less.” Jack nodded.

Hannah squinted at him.

“And this Little Jack. Is he hostile?”

“Yea. He’s an asshole.”

“Did your other ‘selves’ know everything about you?”

“Yea. Why?”

“It just doesn’t make sense. If kid Jack is really one of your ego’s, shouldn’t he share the hatred you have for Rodeo? Unless you’ve been lying to me this entire time and secretly miss him.”

“No. I definitely want to kill him.”

“Are you afraid of Rodeo?”

Jack chewed on that for a long moment. He wanted to be honest with himself, so he took some time to mull it over.

He found he wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of Rodeo. The man was a monster, but he was a monster that Jack knew. It was hard to be afraid of something that you understood.

“No.” Jack finally said.

“Hmmm. Is he here now? Can you see him?”

“No. He disappeared pretty quickly last night.”

“Can you bring him back?”

“Uhhh…”

Hello? Can anyone in there hear me? Jack tried asking in his mind. He looked around the room. Nothing.

“Nope, doesn’t look like he wants to play. But he seems to enjoy doing the opposite of what I want, so this is probably one of those times.”

“Ok. That’s probably for the best. If he shows back up, just ignore him. I’m no psychologist, but engaging with a figment of your imagination probably isn’t the right thing to do.” Hannah said matter of fact.

Jack nodded along. He wasn’t sure he agreed, though. He had been waiting all night for Little Jack to show up. He was going to set the kid straight one way or another.

“In the meantime,” Hannah started, still pacing back and forth in the room. “I think we should run.”

“Really? What about the whole third-wheel plan where we kill everyone?”

“Obviously, that isn’t going to work if you’re insane and unable to attack Rodeo. We know where Sammy is, sort of. I say we get the hell out, find Sammy, and then find a healer who can fix your brain.”

“That easy, huh? There is no way in hell Rodeo is going to let us leave. Also, aren’t we deep in enemy territory? How far do you think we can get before we’ve got an entire army breathing down our necks? Also, I’m not even sure I can run. What if Little Jack stops me?” Jack said, shooting holes through her plan.

“Then I’ll knock your ass out and drag you away myself.” Hannah said matter of fact. “Coming here was a mistake, Jack. We know Rodeo’s alive now. We can find him and kill him later when we’re at full strength.”

“Alright.” Jack said, letting out a sigh. He felt like a useless piece of shit. This is not how things we’re supposed to go down.

Hannah moved towards the door with a nod.

“Where are you off to?”

“I’m going to poke around, see what kinda guard they keep over the place. I’ll be back in a bit. Try not to do anything crazy while I’m gone, alright?”

“I don’t think you're allowed to tell a crazy person not to do anything crazy.”

“Whatever dumbass.” Hannah grinned, shutting the door behind her.

Jack let out a sigh and stared around the empty vacant room.

“She’s gone now. You can come out whenever you want, asshole…”

Nothing.

Jack spent the better part of an hour hurling every insult and taunt he could think of into an empty room in an attempt to draw out Little Jack, but he refused to bite. Jack only stopped when he heard loud screaming coming from below.

“This should be interesting…” Jack said, pushing off the bed and walking downstairs and into the courtyard. He emerged to find Bubba, the large rotund man dragging someone by the foot. They were kicking and screaming and letting out half sobs as Bubba tossed him into the middle of the training yard before the feet of Rodeo.

Rodeo stood there, arms crossed, a look of pure disdain on his face.

“Quit groveling, you coward.” He snarled at the man.

“Please… Just let me leave… I swear I won’t tell a soul what goes on here.” The man choked out through more sobs.

“Those aren’t the rules, I’m afraid. Once you join. You don’t get to leave. What’s the punishment for cowardice?” Rodeo yelled out to the small crowd of people who were pouring out behind Jack from inside the house.

“Death!” they all sang out in unison.

“No…” the man said, letting out a pitiful wail.

“Stand up.” Rodeo commanded. Jack watched as the man shot up without protest, shaking so hard Jack thought he might start seizing up.

This was Rodeo’s true weapon. It wasn’t his fists or his swords. It wasn’t his battle prowess, either. Rodeos’ preferred weapon was fear bred from violence and savagery. Jack had watched him rip a guy’s jaw off with his bare hands once. It’s hard to think straight once you witness something like that. Suddenly you're afraid he’ll do the same thing to you, or worse.

Rodeo pulled a large sword out of his void sack. It wasn’t a sword with clean polished edges. No. It was more like a saw. Jagged uneven serrations ran up and down either side. It wasn’t a weapon designed for a clean kill. This was a sword designed for ripping and tearing.

Jack watched as Rodeo formed a connection with the blade. A gray like mana seeping off him and sending the sword floating in the air. This was the first time he had seen Rodeo use an ability, and he focused hard as he tried to absorb as much as he could. It seemed like he had the same sort of power as Hannah. If he focused hard enough, he could see Rodeo’s mana linked to the blade as it swam through the air, circling its prey like a hungry shark.

Rodeo didn’t end things quickly. He let the blade rip and tear through the man slowly. Blood sprayed everywhere. More blood than seemed possible to come from one person. The man’s screaming was loud and painful. Louder than it should have been. Like something, or someone was amplifying the savagery. Jack watched as Rodeo slowly butchered the man. He focused in hard on the soon to be corpse. It looked like there was a gray hue of Rodeo’s mana surrounding the man as Rodeo cut into him more and more.

Finally, the man died, and there was an explosion of blood and guts as his corpse slumped to the ground. Way too much blood and guts for one person.

What the fuck is going on? Jack wondered to himself, staring at the mutilated body on the ground.

“Rodeo is awesome, isn’t he?” came Little Jack’s voice from his side.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Jack asked.

This prompted Rodeo to turn around and look at Jack. He wiped off the blood that covered his face, running his bloody hands through his hair to slick it back.

“My class is a variant of the Magic Swordsman. It’s a lot like Hannah’s Magic Archer class.” Rodeo said, answering Jack’s unasked question. Jack nodded along, filing that piece of information away in the bullshit department. Also, when the fuck did he figure out Hannah’s class? Jack wondered. There was no way in hell Hannah would have told him.

“What did that guy do?” Jack asked, nodding at the corpse.

“Failed me.” Was all Rodeo offered, his face turning hard. “I saw Hannah leaving earlier. Make sure she’s back soon.” Rodeo said, quickly changing the subject.

“Tell me first.” Jack asked, as members of the Rough House filed past them either back into the house or out back towards the training area further outside. “Why do all this? What’s keeping you here? There has to be more to gain for you on the second floor.”

“The king promised me a certain something.” Rodeo smiled.

“Which is?”

“The Dungeon of Xinnolath.”

Jack groaned. It always came back to this shit. He was so fucking tired of dungeons yet everyone and their mother seemed obsessed with them.

“I heard you have a key. Mind if I take a look?” Rodeo asked, a knowing look on his face.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

This time, Jack cursed at Hannah. She had insisted he hold on to at least one key. Said it was probably better to keep them separated, that way we didn’t lose them all in one fell swoop if someone got robbed or killed.

“I don’t have-“

“That’s a lie!” Little Jack interrupted. “Show him the key!”

Jack turned to stare daggers at his kid self, his hand slowly crawling into his void sack and pulling out the key against his will. He tossed it over to Rodeo.

“Thank you.” Rodeo said, still smiling at Jack.

He watched as Rodeo looked the key up and down, giving it a thorough inspection. Then he looked back at Jack, a mischievous look in his eye.

He handed the key back, and Jack’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“What? I’m no thief. The key is yours, kid.” Rodeo said, patting Jack on the shoulder and turning to walk back inside.

“We’ll start training whenever Hannah gets back.” Rodeo called out over his shoulder.

“Told you we can trust him.” Little Jack said, sticking his tongue out at Jack.

Jack watched as Rodeo disappeared inside before he began his tirade.

“Listen here, you little shit. We’re going to set a few things straight.” Jack said, turning to look at his kid self. Who had disappeared completely.

“I hate this kid.” Jack grumbled under his breath.

With little else to do. Jack walked around the house trying to find trouble to cause. Much to his annoyance. No one would engage with him. Everyone seemed pissed off or annoyed at his presence. Which he could understand if anyone knew him. But these were strangers. He hadn’t yet had the time to annoy them. Which in turn annoyed him.

“What the fuck, man? Why won’t anyone talk to me?” Jack said, spotting the snake man at his original position, sitting at the cantina, which was situated on the edge of the training yard. There was a window in the kitchen you could order drinks from. Jack practically cornered the weird rubber snake man so that the only way he could get up and leave the table would be through Jack. He was done with people avoiding him.

“Despite what Rodeo may say. You aren’t one of us.” He hissed. “You haven’t done the things we’ve done. You haven’t been through the crucible.”

“The crucible?” Jack asked.

The snake man pointed out the front gates.

“Oh, you mean all that bullshit I passed on the way in here? I gotta say, as far as training goes, you’ve got to be pretty fucking stupid if you actually think that’s doing anything.”

“It’s made us stronger than you can ever imagine.” The snake said, slamming his fist on the table and snarling Jack.

“Sure. Sure.” Jack smiled at the guy. “So, you’re telling me If I go make a run of the crucible and pass, you’ll be my friend?”

“Exactly.” the man said, regaining some of his composure.

Jack just nodded along, an idea forming as he stood up from his chair.

“All right then, I’ll be back soon. Then we can be best friends” Jack smiled at the man, who glared at him in response.

Jack left the Rough House and walked down the dirt path towards the training areas. He didn’t really have a plan in mind beyond breaking every single one of Rodeo’s tests and killing as many people as possible in the process. Back on Earth, he had dismantled Rodeo’s attempts to rebuild the Rough House, but that was more of an unintentional accident on Jack’s part. This time, though, he had every intention of destroying everything Rodeo had built. Even better, Little Jack hadn’t shown back up to stop him. Which made Jack pause. Why wasn’t the kid showing back up now?

As Jack walked down the dirt path, figuring out where to start, it began to rain. Jack looked up at the clouds and squinted in confusion as light drops of rain pelted against his face. He wasn’t paying close attention, but he could have sworn it was bright and sunny out not even fifteen minutes ago.

“Fuck that. I’m not doing this in the rain.” Jack said aloud, quickly changing his mind and turning back around towards the Rough House.

He fell into a sort of trance as he meandered up the dirt path. The storm came in quick and the rain came down in an almost comforting wave. The rain was warm, and the thunder that rolled through the clouds was smooth. Jack didn’t know if it was because of the storm stance or not, but he felt at home in the gentle storm that rained down on him.

He also felt tired. Extremely tired. He was practically dragging his feet as he made it back into the courtyard. Curiously, he wasn’t the only one who was tired. He noticed a couple of guards dozed off against the wall and he glanced over to the snake man who had nuzzled his head in his arms, and he slept face down on the table.

“Guess the rain makes everyone sleepy.”

Rodeo came stomping out of the house a moment later to greet Jack. He flashed him an angry glance before looking up at the skies.

“What is she doing here?” Jack heard him snarl. “These damn fools are going to ruin everything.”

“What the hell are you-“

Rodeo’s head snapped back; his face contorted in rage as he stared him down. That was a face Jack was very familiar with and it shocked him awake in seconds.

“Everyone, wake the fuck up.” Rodeo roared. Anyone who had fallen asleep snapped up in an instant, staring at Rodeo in confusion. “We’re under attack. Jack, follow me.” Rodeo bellowed. Everyone frantically started moving around.

Jack looked at Rodeo and then scanned the surroundings. He didn’t see or sense anyone. Then he looked at the rain. Really looked at it.

There was mana infused in the raindrops.

It was a perfect, blue-green energy in each drop and Jack watched as it fizzled out against his skin, drenching him in the mana.

“Jack,” Rodeo barked from the doorway, and Jack turned to follow.

“Who is it?” Rodeo asked.

Rodeo didn’t answer, stopping to look at Jack, his eyes hard and angry.

“You can’t be here when they show up. You’re fast. A hundred points in Dexterity? I want you to run to the capital and warn Ondfauxt of a surprise attack. Tell him the Gentle Storm is here.” He snarled.

Jack didn’t move. A thousand questions raced through his mind as he stared at Rodeo.

“How the hell do you know how many points I have in Dexterity?” Jack asked, an accusing glare at Rodeo.

Rodeo bit down hard, his eyes growing angrier as he stared at Jack.

“I told you to run, kid. Now go.” He commanded. Jack felt his legs moving as he made his way towards the door. He had to get to the capital fast.

Jack came grinding to a halt, slamming his feet at the doorway as he fought against every urge to run. His body was trying to move on its own. He wasn’t controlling it. Rodeo had commanded him somehow.

He grit his teeth hard, fighting against his body. He squeezed his fist tight and bit down hard against whatever magic was controlling him.

Of course. Jack thought, slowly regaining control and turning down to face Rodeo. All he saw was Little Jack standing there, staring at him.

“Took ya long enough.” Was all he said. Only this time it was in Rodeo’s deep, gravelly voice.

“What the fuck did you do?” Jack snarled back. In response, Little Jack disappeared, and so did the world around him. Jack suddenly found himself back on Earth, standing in the middle of Rodeo’s original Rough House. The dojo he grew up in. The shitty training equipment, the broken mirrors that lined the wall, the rough splintering wooden floors.

“Interesting place you chose. The original Rough House. Ya homesick kid?” Came Rodeo’s voice. Jack spun around in the room, spotting him in one of the broken mirrors.

“I didn’t choose this place. Where the fuck did you bring me?”

“This is your mind. You picked this place. Not me.” Rodeo shrugged.

“What are you?” Jack snarled at the broken mirror.

“I was pretty disappointed when I first arrived in the Tower.” Rodeo said, walking down the line of mirrors, popping out and inspecting the equipment.

“A Psionic Mana Core. You know what that does?”

Jack didn’t respond.

“Some weak telekinesis is all it really had to offer in the beginning. It wasn’t until I got the mind spike ability that the world really opened up for me.” Rodeo said, smile turning menacing as he stared at Jack.

Jack's mind raced, thinking back to all the people here, doing insane tasks in service of Rodeo.

“You’ve brainwashed everyone here?”

“Of course not.” Rodeo said in mock offense. “Despite what you may think, invading someone’s mind is quite the difficult task. It’s like a maze. One wrong turn, I get booted out. And If I start breaking down walls in the maze, well, the person usually goes brain dead or crazy.” Rodeo shrugged. “I can assure you everyone wants to be here of their own volition. I’ve only been offering… a careful nudge here and there.”

“And me? You invaded my mind and are trying to drive me insane? How? When?”

“Invaded?” Rodeo said, letting out a deep laugh from his belly and slapping at his thigh. “Jackie boy,” Rodeo snarled, appearing again before him. “I know you down to your core. I built the maze that is your mind. I wrote the book that is Jack Atlas. Your mind is nothing but an open door to me. The second you stepped into my house you were mine.”

Jacks heart raced as he played through the events of the past day and half. Rodeo had known things he shouldn't have known. Jack assumed it was because the man had somehow been keeping careful tabs on him. But what if he was in Jacks head? Reading his thoughts?

Jack drew his dagger in a flash and sliced through the image of Rodeo. He let out a relieved breath that he could actually attack the man now.

That changed things for him.

“Looks like you don’t have as much control over me as you thought.” Jack said, challenging the empty room.

That prompted Rodeo to laugh. His deep gravelly voice rang out from every corner of the room.

Jack launched at Rodeo, swiping through another image that fizzled out before him.

“I was quite surprised to see your fears manifested. Scared of going insane, are we?” Rodeo said, reappearing in the broken mirrors that lined the walls, a menacing smile hanging from his face.

“I’ll admit. I don’t have much control over what you see. Over what scares you. I can only poke it, prod it, amplify it until I control you completely.” Rodeo said, walking out of the mirror and staring Jack dead in the eyes. “Tell me, kid. Does the thought of working alongside your old sensei really scare you that much? Are you afraid of me?” Rodeo asked, his dead gray eyes staring deep into Jack’s soul.

For the second time today, Jack was asking himself if he was afraid of Rodeo. He stared at the man. His creator. His tormentor.

He felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

“You said it yourself, Rodeo,” Jack started. “You made me. Built me. Molded me into the perfect monster. Made me fearless. I think you might be the one who’s afraid of what will happen if you can’t control me.” Jack said, casually flipping his dagger in his hand and looking around at the old Rough House.

It shattered like broken glass, falling away into pieces. Jack found himself back in reality, standing across from Rodeo who was now decked out in a black plate armor, one jagged sword in hand, five more identical blades floating in the air behind him. His face was contorted in rage and confusion.

“Tell me Rodeo. Do I scare you?” Jack asked.

Rodeo charged at him in response. Jack launched himself at the man, daggers at the ready, deflecting the jagged blades that assaulted from every single angle. They quickly destroyed the cafeteria in their chaotic battle. Rodeo baited in Jack with a feint, he swiped in with his daggers and missed the man completely. Rodeo sent a mana empowered kick straight to his chest, launching out into the training yard. Jack got to his feet and fell deep into storm stance, fighting off the tired feeling as more rain pelted down on him.

“I don’t have time for your games Jackie-boy.” Rodeo screamed, walking out into the courtyard. “This time, I’m going to put a leash on you so tight you’ll never escape.”

“Well, this looks fun. Mind if I join?”

Both Jack and Rodeo stopped mid attack, a jovial voice cutting straight through their fight. Jack looked up to see a man sitting on the wall. A large smile on his face and an enormous curved scimitar propped up on his shoulder. Golden flames were radiating off his body. He jumped down to their level, landing without a sound. He was tall, and sort of skinny. His golden hair was pulled back into a tail, revealing two long, elegant ears. He wore a white robe with an intricate golden flame scrawled across it. Despite the rain pouring down, he wasn’t wet at all.

“What are you doing here, Dragon? You’re supposed to be at-“

“The battle for Clearglen? Yes, I suppose I am.” He nodded. “But seeing as how you took it upon yourselves to raid our back lines for the past several months, I thought I might return the favor.” He finished, a wide, happy smile on his face.

Jack stared at the man, dumbfounded. This was Gideon. It had to be. The man he was supposed to kill.

He knew right in that moment the task was impossible. Jack had been fighting his entire life, and every once in a while he would come across a person who he knew was unbeatable. The way Gideon walked, talked, held himself. Even in the mere seconds of meeting him, Jack could tell it all radiated unbeatable power.

Jack felt his own smile grow wider. His heart beat faster. An impossible fight. The prospect excited him. He felt his grip on his daggers grow tighter. That’s when Gideon’s radiant golden eyes fell to Jack, and the dragon’s smile grew even brighter, mischievous even.

“I like your tattoo.” Was all he said to Jack.

Jack looked down at his left arm where the centipede had marked him. It was still completely covered up, not revealing anything. He looked back to Gideon, who had an almost innocent look on his face.

Fuck. He knows.