Chapter 46: The Jack

Back in the Central Core, Avrie was writing some notes about the behaviour of the Sun. It’s rhythm and inconsistencies. She noted everything about it, so she didn’t later say that she missed something. But something still bothered her.

She didn’t know what Elpis and Aether were doing. It had been a while since they went exploring, and she hadn’t seen them come out of the first Ring. While she wasn’t mad about the extra time she had needed, there wasn’t anything else to write about the Sun.

She had even found the log that she sent the them to find. So what could they have been doing all this time? Had they gotten stuck? Was there another path that connected the Rings to each other without going through the Central Core?

Well, she would just have to see for herself, walking towards the Ring Elpis and Aether had gone in a long time ago. But as she looked inside, she only found some cells which she had no idea what they were used for. There was also a small metal box, but she got a weird feeling coming from it, so she didn’t enter it.

There was also no other path connecting the Rings… which was weird, because they weren’t here.

“Where the hell did they go?”

She tried to seem confident and not affected by their disappearance. But she was scared, very frightened.

Without Elpis around, if anyone attacked her, that was it. She had no room to run and shoot her bow; she probably wouldn’t even have time to draw an arrow.

So she retreated to the Central Core and waited on one of the chairs, resting her elbows on her knees as she ran her hands through her hair.

Her leg kept shaking from how nervous she was. She tried to find a logical answer for where her companions were.

Maybe she had been too caught up in her studies that she didn’t see them pass by her and go into another ring.

Her face regained a bit of its color at that thought; it gave her hope.

“So their just in another Ring… but in which one?”

There were three other doors, all leading to their own Ring, each with its own designed purpose. She decided to go to the one opposite from the one they had gone through at first, because if she really didn’t notice them for this long, then they must have already been in at least two, and the third was just the one she chose.

She clenched her chest, slowly walking towards the door leading to the hallway. Looking at it, she felt an awful feeling; the smell of rot blocked her nostrils. Whatever was beyond, she didn’t like it

Inside the hallway, the lights flickered, as if indeed they made her even more scared than she was.

She cursed… her friends?

Stopping for a second, she blinked twice.

While she and Elpis were good friends, what was her relationship with Aether? Were they just companions, or were they friends? At first, he had been a tool she used to free Elpis, but after finding out that everything he told him about the researchers and the Sun was true, and spending time together, had they become friends?

She smiled. They were friends. While he was annoying and very weird, he definitely was of help; his ability to talk to shadows was very precious, and he had proven that he could use it well when he stole everything that day. She was very impressed the first time she saw what he was able to achieve. So why shouldn’t she be her friend?

He wasn’t as close of a friend as Elpis, but he was one.

Now feeling better, she had the courage to raise her pace, reaching the end of the hallways.

“Waste disposal?”

She tilted her head slightly, took a step, and let the door open itself.

Inside, it was darkness, so she had hesitated to enter, knowing that if they were here, Elpis would have used his flame by now. But she still decided to enter, because maybe the room was big enough for her not to see it.

The place was filled with crates full of trash, so it was hard to navigate. But after walking through the trashed place, she found a dead end. But she didn’t find Elpis or Aether; instead, she found something else.

A dog, but it had a weird feeling to it.

She tried taking a step forward, but as it sensed her movement, it turned around, revealing its peeled back face.

She almost froze in terror. Its face was absolutely messed up, like a peeled orange, with sharp teeth all across it. As it saw her, its tail turned into a sharp blade and lunged towards her, but she managed to avoid it, running away.

…

…

Aether rested his back against the wall, turning his head to Elpis.

“I’m sorry.”

Elpis raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“Why?”

Aether scoffed, embarrassed to explain. He looked away, trying not to make eye contact with the knight’s silver eyes.

“I’ve had a very different idea of who you were until now. So I’m sorry…”

Elpis smiled slightly.

“Well, I have also done the same thing, so we’re equal on that one.”

He jokily punched Aether in the shoulder, making him frown in annoyance.

But truly, he had a very different idea of who Elpis was. He thought he was a rich kid, someone who had been trained young, fed every day, and didn’t have to worry about surviving. But his idea was exactly the opposite. He had to fight every single day to survive. But not only hunger, exhaustion, thirst, and some others. But he actually had to fight other children like him to live another day.

If he had been in his place, he wouldn’t have survived the first day, even more achieve what he did.

He actually… started to respect him a little more than he did before. And he thinks that Elpis, too, now thinks more of him. After all, he had also told his story, true, it had been twisted in some places, and most was kept hidden, but who says the knight didn’t do the same thing?

…

“I think we should continue now, we don’t want Avrie to get worried.”

Elpis nooded, getting up on his feet and leading the way back, just like he normally did.

But as the door to the Central Core opened, he felt something hurt in his chest, a very sharp and painful sensation. Like his whole body was burning, and he could hardly keep his balance.

Aether looked as the knight suddenly stopped in front of him, unsure why; he looked to see what he was looking at. His face paled in terror at the sight.

In the middle of the Central Core, a dog was resting, its face disgusting, with blood flowing from inside its face. And smiling with its many teeth. But even more terrifying was its sharp tail that it had thrust right into Elpis’ chest.

“Shit!”

Aether froze, unsure what to do as the monster drew its tail from his companion, letting him fall to the ground.

But he wasn’t the only one who had suffered this fate; Avrie, too, was lying on the ground, with a hole in her chest.

Aether felt his eyes shake in terror as the beast raised its tail to attack him next.

He had to run, but where to? It was probably faster than him, and it wasn’t like he had anywhere to go inside the bunker. Going outside was also a dead wish, as he didn’t know how to swim.

So then what could he do?

Fight?

’I can’t beat this thing! I don’t even have a weapon…’

There had to be something else… right?

But his time ran out, as he saw the tail of the monster thrust towards him. But not long before it did, he felt some sort of vibration from above, just like the ceiling was about to fall.

With the corner of his eyes, he saw the ceiling starting to break and fall just in time for the sharp end of the monster’s tail to stop right as it was about to pierce his eye.

He braced himself as the ceiling fell on top of the beast, dust rushing all across the room.

He coughed, closing his eyes so dust didn’t get in his eyes.

When he opened them again, the ceiling was broken into pieces, and on top of the monster was sitting a figure that seemed to belong to a human. But since the dust was to dense, he couldn’t figure out any of its features.

“Who… who are you?”

Aether asked, desperate.

The figure seemed to tilt its head, mockingly.

“You don’t remember me? How sad.”

It laughed, two bottles manifesting in his hands, throwing them at Aether.

Aether was caught off guard, almost failing to catch them, but as he did, the codex appeared.

[You have gained a relic.]

[You have gained a relic.]

He opened his codex, trying to see what they were for.

[Spring of Life]- A bottle filled from a lake of wonders, containing the spirit of life.

Category-Potion

Class-Breaker

Rank-fragment

Abilities- [Life]

[Life]-Whenever this potion is drunk, it will heal any injuries, no matter what they are.

Aether stared in shock. He had not expected it class to be this high. And its ability… was amazing, just what he needed; this way he could save both Elpis and Avrie. But why did the figure give them to him?

He looked back at the figure, grateful for his gift, but still suspicious of his identity.

“You said you wanted to know who I was, fine, I’ll tell you. You may know me as The Jack.”

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