After he had finished speaking with the doll Jenna, Jack noticed it had gotten rather late. Wanting to get a bit of sleep for tomorrow, he turned in for a nap. Laying on top of the bed, he rested his head onto the pillow and found himself slipping into his dream state. He found himself in a smaller frame that felt younger than the previous times. His muscled arms were now replaced with thin gangly limbs that looked weak.
Jack was currently walking through a hallway, there was a series of blue lockers that lined the walls. Young adults or teenagers walked and chatted in the halls along with him. On Jack's back he could feel a heavy bag straining to tip him forward with his every step. He finally stopped in front of one of the blue lockers and grabbed a circular lock on it.
He found his scrawny fingers working on the lock, spinning the dial back and forth. Jack could feel his frustration grow for he messed up the dial several times, only for him to hear a bell ring. In annoyance he dropped the lock back into place and headed off down the hallway. As he walked to a room, he noticed a sign on a wall saying that the prom dance would occur soon so pick up tickets now.
Jack merely glanced it over and then headed into a neighboring room. In the room was a bunch of desks and chairs. Going down a middle row, he sat near the back and pulled out a book and paper. Other's filtered into the room and took up their seats. An older woman entered the room and spoke to the class instructing them to open their books to a specific page.
As he opened the book, the dream seemed to speed up, whether because the memories of this class were unimportant, or not well remembered he didn't know. For the most part the class seemed to be dealing with a history of a nation. Yet, for the most part, Jack wasn't paying attention to the class. He was more focused on a girl that was sitting across from him.
In Jack's opinion, she was attractive but fairly average. He also got the feeling she was a bit self centered. Whether that was part of his memories or just a gut feeling he wasn't sure. Either way, his past self seemed enamored with this girl. He kept sneaking glances towards her.
She was wearing an outfit that looked like some kind of uniform. It had a skirt, and his past self kept glancing at her exposed legs. She caught him looking and smirked giving him a wink. Not long after there was a bell, and Jack quickly put away his things. He got the feeling that he wanted to ask the girl something significant. The girl had already left the classroom, so Jack sped after her.
Exiting the classroom, he spotted her down the hallway chatting with some of her friends in similar uniforms. Jack moved towards her, and just as he was about to reach her, something caught on his foot and he tripped forward. Because of the weight of the pack on his pack, he could not stop himself from crashing hard to the floor. Glasses that he had on his face slid up painfully up his nose.
Stunned for a moment, he carefully pushed himself up to his knees. As he did so, he overheard someone laughing. Looking up as he stood, Jack saw a young man looking down at him. He recognized him as a younger version of the man with a scar on his face. Only this version did not have that distinctive scar yet.
A deep hatred filled Jack, and as he faced this man he grabbed Jack by his shirt. "I hear you're looking at my girl. I don't like it. Keep away, or you will find yourself having more accidents." With that he let go of Jack and began to walk after the girl who was now openly smirking at him."
Jack could feel the heat of shame cross his face. Looking down he could see that he scraped his arms up in the fall and was slightly bleeding. Turning around he made his way to a room that had a bunch of tiles lining the walls. As he entered it, he woke up in a sweat and a feeling of anger throughout his body. Taking a moment, he centered himself and briefly reviewed what he had learned from the dream. Apparently his antagonistic relationship with the man with the scar was older than he originally thought.
Shaking his head, he made his way to the bathroom and took a shower. While he could use his power to clean himself, he liked the feeling of hot water on his skin. When he was clean, he headed outside to have breakfast with the others. Their plans for the day were to go to ask Brandy to check out the murder sites in the slums. With the clues they discovered yesterday, there was a high chance of being able to find a witness, or even more information on the killer.
After they had left for the slums, Jack made a strong effort to get himself ready for his day out with Eramis. He changed his outfit for a slightly more casual one. Satisfied he headed out and stopped at a sweets shop to pick up some choice ones for Eramis. He knew the sun goddess had a taste for sweets after she had eaten the entire stash he had brought up to his space.
The store had several varieties, so he picked out a dozen of each. They were all gathered into a large bag, that Jack placed into his inventory so as to not have them melt or distort as he headed towards the meeting place across the city. Despite being early in the morning, the heat of summer was already becoming suffocating. Hailing down a yellow carriage, he had them drive to the park where he was supposed to meet Eramis.
Reaching the park, he paid the driver and walked into it. Jack looked around for a place to wait for Eramis. He spotted a bench that was in the shade of a large tree near a pond that looked man made. There were numerous rows of flowers along its banks, and there were several water fountains in the middle of it.
Sitting down, he watched a pair of swans swimming lazily about the pond's surface. In addition to the swan's there were numerous lotus plants floating in the water. A flash of golden scales in the water also indicated that there was fish also in the pond. Taking his eyes off the water, he saw a group of people nearby who were in the middle of doing some morning exercises.
A relaxing breeze floated past him, causing him to lean back into the bench. Jack sat in peace for several minutes before someone sat down next to him. Looking over he saw that it was a woman. She looked at him and smiled and said "How is it going Jack?"
Jack blinked in surprise and said "Eramis?"
"Don't recognize me?"
Indeed, he had not recognized her at first. She was almost completely different from her usual self. Where her goddess form her skin was tanned golden, here it was almost a milky white. Even her avatar appearance in the temple was closer to her original form then this. Her golden blond hair had been changed to a dark earthy brown. She was now wearing a set of glasses that hid her distinctive eyes. She was wearing a summer dress that looked casual, yet reserved.
"You look great Eramis." Jack said.
"Thanks, I had to really change my appearance. Alacanar has too many watch dogs in the city to make it easy to walk around in my true appearance."
"Can he really oppose you walking around in the city? It's not like he owns the city."
"Technically he doesn't, but in reality gods don't like other gods wandering about in their territory. Some places are open areas, but Keston by rights is not. While I wouldn't get in trouble with the court for being here, it would look like I'm butting into his business. Without a good reason, I could lose more support."
"If that's the case, why are you here?"
"There are a few places I need to check out to see what Alacanar is up too. Cagey also said you wished to show me around the city?"
Jack blinked and said quickly "Yes, of course. I know you have been working hard the past few weeks, and wanted to give you a break from work for a bit."
"That is kind of you especially since most of my hard work lately is directly because of you. Eramis chuckled, and then said. "Jack, I'm not an idiot. I see what my friend Cagey is trying to do. She has been nagging me for a while to start pursuing other people. I'm going to be honest with you, I think you're cute and fun, but I'm not interested in you like that. Sure, I can see us having a bit of fun, but right now, I have too much work to focus on having a relationship."
"I can understand that. It is tough to focus on other things when you have so many responsibilities. All that I want is to be your friend Eramis. You're a good person and I like that." Jack said. "I can see you've been stressing out lately, so today, let me help you relax for a bit."
She looked at him and nodded, "So what do you plan first? Most of the things I want to check on are later in the day."
"I was actually thinking we should take a look at the museum in the city. I think it will be a good place to just walk around and talk."
Eramis laughed and said "You want to take me to a museum? Fine, let's go."
They left the park and hailed a yellow carriage to take them to the museum. When they got there, he found it was open to all visitors, but they charged two large silver coins before they were allowed to enter. After they had paid, Eramis sighed and said "Originally the museums were supposed to be free entry for any person, but we were outvoted and know each kingdom can charge it's own price."
"The gods were behind the museums?"
Eramis nodded and said, "They were Libres idea in the first place. After the goblin wars and the war of the gods, a lot of our history was missing. We established a museum in each kingdom capital to help restore our knowledge of our past. Some have proved useful, others not so much. Unfortunately, nobles tend to take the choicest bits of knowledge and keep them from the public."
They stopped in front of a museum map. It was a massive building that had several wings to it. Each one was dedicated to a different subject. The wing they went down dealt with artifacts of the past. As they headed to that wing, they passed a giant skeleton of a shark. A plaque underneath it said it had been caught forty years ago off the coast of Kestonia. Jack measured it at least sixty feet long.
Standing next to him, Eramis looked at it and said "Thank god these monstrous beasts are not very common in the ocean. At least near the surface. They only rarely attack ships, mostly the ones fishing. It's already a pain for mortals to travel to other continents, no need for more reasons not to venture across the oceans."
Moving past the skeleton, they entered the first section. There were several models of figures in wax. It dealt with the history of Kestonia. It depicted each King, all the way to the first one. Along the walls were several weapon artifacts. Jack could feel a slight tingle of magic in some of them.
"These weapons were most likely used by warriors under Keston. The true king blades are likely in the castle vault. Though to be honest, I'm not sure because that is Alacanar's area of control. It is said that Keston wielded a blade that could cut through anything. Whether that is true, I'm not sure. What I do know is that Keston was one of the first to establish a nation after the goblin wars."
A painting hung in the middle of the room, showed Keston the founder finding the alleged spring of legend. Moving on to the next room, they entered a period depicting the goblin wars. They were looking at an Exhibit showing a group of goblins being dispatched by warriors, when Eramis said "I know little about the goblin wars. They occurred during the time of the war of the gods. My brother and I had to hide for a very long time. I only came out during the tail end of the goblin wars. Even then, this continent was not the first one I focused on. Alacanar emerged here first, which is why he has such a grip on this region."
On the opposite wall were various skulls of various types of goblins. Along with them were a variety of other kinds of monsters. A plaque nearby said that while the goblin wars were named after the most prevalent monster of the period, several other nightmarish monsters ran rampant as well during the period.
"You may not be aware Jack, but there is a very complex underground cavern beneath the entirety of the world. I'm unsure of its total size, but it goes deep. There are some paths that lead down to it, but we sealed up most of them. We even put in restrictions in how far down a mine can go. No gods traverse it's depths, because the things down there are incredibly dangerous. That realm is not a place where you should ever go. Even now I fear going down there. Luckily the Great One sealed down the worst of the beasts down there. In fact I believe you have already encountered one of them."
Jack looked at her and said "I have?"
"Yes, that spider gorge is actually an entrance to the great underworld. The Spider Queen is sealed down there at the entrance. She occasionally get aggressive, so I keep an eye on her. But for the most part the things down there care little about the surface. They may not even realize that there is a surface."
They continued on, into the next room that was dedicated to the Kingdom of Sevaris. There were a few magical artifacts in here, though most seemed to be in really rough shape. The plaques didn't even say what they were meant to do. In the middle of the room was a broken modipod that had seen better days. In contrast with the other rooms, this area had little information.
"So much of this time period is missing. Not just for this continent, but other continents as well. It is like something or someone came along and attempted to wipe out this period of time. In part it could be those Archmages, but most likely it comes from the result of the war of the gods.
The last room was of the far past. Things were even more bare here. Only a few artifacts here and there could be seen. Some primitive looking models of early humans in huts were displayed in the back. The only thing Jack saw that was interesting was a tall obelisk in the middle of the room.
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It was made out of a solid black material. When Jack examined it, he could not recognize what it was made out of. Some multiple layers of runes had been carved out on it. Walking around he identified that there were several varieties of languages on it.
A plaque nearby said it had been dug up from the ground in the east of the kingdom. It was in the remains of an ancient castle, while no one has been able to translate them; the general consensus was they were some sort of guide stone. Guiding where, they were unsure.
Eramis said "Several of these obelisks have been discovered over the years. A few years back, one was discovered on an island in the middle of the ocean where no one has set foot for at least thousands of years."
They went on to the next floor. The artwork was a wide variety of styles of paintings. Some of them took up an entire wall, while others were only the size of an average piece of paper. While looking at a painting of a dog that was in the middle of eating a small child, he noticed Eramis had left his side.
Looking around he saw her standing looking up at a painting of a woman. Going to it, he noticed it was a painting of Asteria, a goddess of stars. Eramis said when he got close to her, "This is of my mother." She was silent for a bit after that and said "I have trouble remembering her face. I was so young when they left to fight in the war. For the longest time I hated that she abandoned us."
Taking a deep breath, she then said "But as I stepped into my role as the Supreme goddess, I grew to understand why she did what she did. Especially as I fought to protect my brother. Responsibility can be quite the bitch at times." They moved on, and chatted about the varieties of art around the space. Eventually they ran out of things to talk about, and Jack suggested they exit the museum to get something to eat.
Leaving the museum, they left down the street looking for a place to stop and have a bite to eat. While they were doing so, they passed a small alley where a voice called out to them. "Get your fortunes told"
Jack glanced over and saw that a woman wearing a cloth face mask beckoned them into the alley to sit at a table. Eramis scoffed and said "No thank you. I have no need for your fortune."
The woman chuckled "Oh but you do oh great supreme goddess."
Eramis went stock still and then walked into the alley followed by Jack. He could feel tension build in her and the fortune teller sat down and removed her mask. When she did so, he instantly recognized her as Melinoe, the one who questioned him at the meeting of the gods.
"Melinoe." Eramis ground out.
"Eramis. Jack, I see you took an avatar. I have to say it looks alot better than that absurd ball form you have. I mean, I had trouble taking you seriously when I looked at you."
"What do you want Melinoe?" Eramis glared at her.
"Did that make you a bit testy? Annoyed I interrupted you two? Oh, there are many things I want, but for right now I just need your help with something."
"And why would I even help you?" Eramis said.
"Well, I could just tell Alacanar that you are in his territory right now if that's what you want."
"Go ahead. I've done nothing here that he could argue against me."
"What about Jack, though? He doesn't have the protection of the court yet. Alacanar has been looking for him, wouldn't he be surprised to find that Jack is in his city."
Eramis stopped at that and glanced towards Jack. He said "Don't threaten her using me Melinoe. I'm not one to be used in that fashion."
Melinoe shrugged and said "Fine. You two are no fun. Still it would be in your best interest if you helped me. In return, I will provide you with some information that you will find interesting."
"Like what?"
"Oh this and that. Like did you know your friend Cagey is actually having sex with your brother?"
Eramis frowned and said "You expect me to take your word on that? Even if that was true, that is not going to make me want to work for you."
Melinoe shrugged and said "I just thought you should know your friend is shagging your brother. The true information I'm offering you, is a clue to the god behind the ritual that took place in Naraak recently."
"What?" Eramis said. "You know this?"
"Oh yes. Not the whole summoning the corrupt god part, but more specifically a god came to me wanting me to make a very special ritual, that would transfer power from a goddess into another being. The catch was this god wanted to actually siphon off the power to himself, instead of the one using the ritual."
"Who is this god?" Jack asked.
"I won't tell unless you help me out."
Eramis frowned and said "I could use the court to force you to speak this. This is serious. Someone attempted to summon a corrupted god. You know how much problem that could cause."
Melinoe looked Eramis dead in the eye and nodded "More so than you. Be that as it may you should not bring this up at court."
"Why not?"
"Because you will lose what power, you still have Eramis. In fact you have no support, and you don't even realize it. At the next Meeting Alacanar will take your position."
"Is Alacanar the god you're speaking about?" Jack asked.
"Hardly. All Alacanar dreams about doing is taking over Eramis job. I could care less, and rather I actually prefer Eramis in the position. Alacanar dreams of power, but he is just a boy wanting to play with the world like it's a toy. He's fun at times, but he is not capable of really leading. Which is what this god is counting on. Here is the truth of it. This god has too much power. If I casually let it slip that they are responsible for some crazy shit, I will be killed. But if you find out on your own well, you might have a chance to gather the rest of the court and fight them."
Eramis was silent for a moment, and then said "What is it that you want us to do?"
Melinoe said "Alacanar has started to drift from me. I can feel it when he looks at me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in love with him. I only use him as he uses me. Still, I hate it when others use my toys. Especially when it is being done to rub my nose in it."
She stopped and then said "I know what really happened at the Glowing mountain incident. I know it's a group of archmages from the Kingdom of Sevaris behind it. Several gods are actually working with them. One of them, Invidia, is actively courting Alacanar. I want you to kill her."
Jack's face turned serious and he said "Do you know where this Invidia is?"
"No. Frustratingly Alacanar has taken to hiding these things from me. All I know is she is somewhere within this city. I also know unlike the others, Invidia is in a really weakened state."
"Are you working with these archmages?" Eramis asked.
"No. While I like to have fun, they are too dangerous to work with. I tried to convince Alacanar, but he simply sees the power they offer."
Eramis said "Fine, but not only will you have to reveal who that god is, if Alacanar calls a vote of confidence you have to back me."
"Fine. I'll even swear an oath to abide by that."
After they had finalized the details, Jack and Eramis left Melinoe and continued onward. Seeing Eramis look concerned Jack took her to a small cafe and got her something to drink. They spent a few hours there just chatting about plans they needed to make now.