CANSTVER 17TH YEAR 548 ASMERIAN CALENDAR.
Ruby heard the door open at the top of the stairway. Suddenly the warm light of a torch-lit the corridor. She started to wag her tail as she saw Jackson walk down the stairs, his entire torso wrapped in bandaging, and blood-soaked cloth. Even in his current state, he showed very little pain or weakness and stood tall and walked without any issue. As he got closer, his expression painted a different story; he was obviously in terrible pain; even the guards slightest touch to his back made him make a face of agony.
"Jack!" Ruby cried out.
"Get in there scum. You're lucky that you even are allowed to stay with this Varin trash." The guard said as he opened the door. "You, girl."
"Yes, sir?" Ruby replied as she looked away in fear.
"If he becomes unresponsive, you're to call the guards immediately." He barked.
"I understand, master."
"Ha, I'm glad you know your place, scum." The guards said with a grin.
Jackson lost his balance stepping over the wooden beam that laid across the bottom of the door jam. She caught him as he fell forward, and the guard slammed the door shut behind him. Remember, if he dies, so do you." The guard reminded her as he started for the stairs.
She waited for the guard to leave the basement before she said anything. "Jack, what happened, are you okay?"
"Is that a question I need to answer now? Where's a seat… I want to sit, ahh." He exclaimed as Ruby accidentally touched his back. "What's wrong with you!" He snapped.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Here, sit on the bed." Ruby said as she helped him to it.
Jackson sat down, and he started to shed a tear. "Why did he do it, Ruby?"
"Who?"
"Why?"
Ruby sat back as she realized he didn't know what he was saying. "I don't know." She said quietly; she felt guilty for what happened.
"Ruby, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"What?" She asked, confused. "Why?"
"I couldn't make it to Gregoria; I couldn't, I just couldn't."
"I'm sorry as well. I slowed you down, and I should have listened to you from the start." She said as she started to cry.
"You don't need to apologize. There's no merit for it anyways."
"I'm sorry," She said as she leaned against his shoulder.
He fell asleep with her leaning against his shoulder, she wrapped him in the sheet and soon joined him in a peaceful slumber.
Jackson felt the sensation of water surround him, he wasn't in his cell anymore, and Ruby was nowhere to be seen, only darkness and an empty void. "HELLO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "WHERE AM I?" He could hear an echo from his voice, and as he turned around, he noticed a glowing blue Siri tree in the distance. "WHO AM I?" It was the echo again; it kept growing louder and louder, and he felt as if he was starting to move. It made him nauseous, and he began to dry heave, but no vomit came out.
"Who are you, boy?" A woman's voice came from behind the tree.
"Who are you? What do you want? Where am I? Where's Ruby?" He pleaded.
"I am you, and you am I, we are one and separate." The voice said, it only confused Jackson.
"That made no sense, how are you me and not me at the same time? Where's Ruby, did you take her?"
"Calm yourself, why would you be in this predicament?"
"I don't know!" Jackson snapped. "Speak plainly, and maybe I could understand."
"After everything, he told me, you can't pass the test."
"Test? What test? Who are you, and why am I being tested?"
The Siri tree suddenly caught fire, and the bright blue flame nearly blinded him. He expected the heat from the tree to burn him; instead, the air around became colder and colder as he inched closer to the tree. "How is it that you cannot see?"
"What I can see."
"But can you perceive?" She asked, her tone more harsh and demeaning.
"Perceive what exactly, I just want to know where Ruby is!"
"Think, how can we be one and separate, how can a tree glow blue, how might a fire cause the warmth to vanish, how might you struggle to move when there is nothing to move from?" The woman demanded.
"What do you…" He paused. He had been so panicked he didn't notice that even though it felt like he was underwater, he was dry and able to breathe in the air. "Am I dreaming?"
"Yes, and no." The woman giggled. "The reality of this room is yours to control now; you can make it whatever you like."
"Whatever I like?"
"Simply ask for something, and they will bestow it upon you in this room. Just know that you may never actually have it." The tree stopped burning, and the landscape came into view, the field was familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen it before. "This is what you desire?" The woman's voice asked.
"I don't know... I think so, but I can't remember anything about this place." He said as he looked around.
"Would you like help?
"Yes, where am I now?"
"I know the location but not the significance of it."
"I remember now, how could I forget."
"Oh, where are we?"
"This is where my uncle took me for my first duel. The Capital should be just over that hill over there." He said as he pointed to the west.
"And who did you duel?"
"It was Sir Wentworth, I was only eleven at the time, and he was seventeen. It only took me two rounds before he quit." He said in a somber tone.
"Oh? Is that why he so brutally lashed you this morning?"
"How do you know about that?"
"I told you, we are one and separate."
"That still makes no sense!" He barked. "Are you just a figment of my imagination, or are you a real person?"
"How long have you trained to be a knight?"
"Don't ignore me, tell me who you are!"
"HOW LONG?" The voice now boomed inside of his head, and he dropped to his knees. Jackson looked around for the voice but couldn't see anything other than the countryside.
"Why?"
"I need to know."
"But why do you need to know, if we're one in you should know how long I've been training to be a knight, not that it'll ever happen now."
"But we're also separate. We are one now but separate. You've led your life up to now without me." She said with a quiet and soft voice.
"Eight years." He replied, just loud enough for the words to be audible. He felt regret for his time in training for the first time, and it was horrible. A tear started to run down his cheek, and he quickly wiped it away.
"You spent all of that time for what?"
He stayed silent and fought to hold his emotions back, but tear after tear flowed from his eyes, he started to break down. He couldn't help but feel guilty for everything that happened, and for a second, he tried to regain control but only lost more control as his body started to shake, and he felt like he was going to throw up.
"I see, you did your best to protect them, but you are only a child. You must understand your limits, Jackson Scottkey; if you don't, then you will be undone by them."
"I… I did… I didn't want this. I wanted to be with my family. I want to be with them."
"You want to join them?" The woman asked, confused. "Why?'
"They died, and I didn't." Jackson sobbed, his voice cracked, and he had to clear his throat. "I want to be with them, and I want my parents back."
"They're gone, but if you die, who'll remember them? Everyone else knows them as traitors, and their bodies have been thrown away like the horse dung in the road. So, tell me before we depart." Suddenly the black void from before surrounded him, and only a woman stood before him. "Do you want to avenge them?" She asked.
"I... I." He stuttered, he looked on as he saw the woman was also in tears, doing her best to hold them back. She smiled as she finally looked into his eyes and held out her hand. ��I do, I want to avenge my mom and dad."
"Then, wait for me. I want to help you, but you aren't ready. You must discover how to use magic, I have shown you the first step, and you simply need to take another."
"Are you saying I need to learn how to use magic?"
"Aye, if you don't, then I can't help you. I owe you my assistance as a Gregorian, but I won't give my life to rescue you."
"So, you're a person?" He asked as he stood up and wiped his face dry. "You mean you're going to help us?"
"Yes, what kind of a mother would I be to leave my child as a slave? Now it's nearly morning, and you have a long day ahead of you, mister Scottkey, rest easy, and know that you have supporters all around you."
"What do you-" Before he could finish, he was back in his cell, the morning light shimmered against the hole, and the stumbling of the slaves living above him made him snap out of his tiredness. "What do you mean by mother?" He thought long and hard about it.
Ruby was next to him, still asleep and leaning against his shoulder. The day was about to begin; he remembered his dream vividly. Jackson got up and fixed the sheet, so it was still wrapped around Ruby. His back stung as he made even the slightest movement. The bandages needed replacing, and they were starting to smell.
He walked up to the cell door and glanced out to the stairs. "How can I learn how to use magic in a place like this?" He sat back down on the bed and thought about his dream; there was nothing for him to go off of. "Except what did she mean by they'll give it to me? Do I need to ask for it?"
He didn't have much time to ponder, two guards came down the stairs and started to rattle the keys to his cell. "Come on out ya little shits. It's breakfast time, and Lord Daniels wants to make sure that you spend your entire lives as slaves," he said, this guard was different. He was a tall and slender man; the other was short and chubby. The tall guard stayed back while the shorter man stepped forwards to open the cell.
"Now," the shorter guard started. "I want you to go and start work with the wall," He said as he pointed to Ruby. "As for you, Sir Wentworth wants to have a word with you. You'll be on light duty until your back is healed, but you best not let it go to your head."
"Okay, where are we going for breakfast?" Jackson asked as he approached the cell door.
"Upstairs, but you'll eat it in your cell." The guard said as he opened the door. The taller guard took Ruby by the arm and pulled her upstairs. Jackson was allowed to walk by himself due to his injuries. There at least seventy slaves in the lobby lined up for food. It was crowded and cramped, Ruby and Jackson were separated, this made him uneasy. Ruby was the only person he knew, and everyone else looked at him with disgust. Even among the slaves, criminals were feared and shunned.
He made his way to the serving table, where two slaves handed out the rations for the day. It was two pieces of bread, a cadfruit, and a piece of jerky and a cup of water that looked like it was fetched from a muddy hole. Jackson followed the guard as they made their way to the stairs, but a slave stood in his way.
"You a criminal?" He asked, the man was in his mid-forties and towered over him. Jackson stepped back and didn't make any eye contact. The guard just stood there; he looked him directly in the eyes with a smug grin that reached from ear to ear. Jackson tried to walk around, but the slave got in his way again.
"We heard bout' you, you betrayed da country. What makes you think we want you here?" The man asked he wasn't good with his words and was relatively cumbersome.
"What makes you think I want to be here? Is that what your master told you?" Jackson straightened up his posture and looked the man in the eyes.
"You untrusty, we don't like criminals here."
"You stupid, I don't like idiots here." Jackson quipped with a laugh. "Now move, or I'll show you what a knight can do without a sword."
"You a slave, you not a knight. I'll kill you here, and now, you have any last words?" The man asked as he cracked his knuckles. Jackson quickly looked around the room. Everyone was silent, and no one moved, all eyes fixed on the two. He finally saw Ruby, she was next to the tall guard, and she looked terrified. He turned his attention back to the slave in front of him.
"So, how long do you think you'll survive? I'm just a boy and an injured one at that, but I do know how to kill, and I know how to do it efficiently." Jackson said as he relaxed his knees and took a single step back.
"Funny boy, I'll kill you with my first punch." The man leaned back and cocked his right arm for a punch. Jackson let the swing fly right in front of him as he leaned back. Now with the man's back turned towards him, he brought his leg up and round kicked the man in the groin so hard that he fell on his face. He then put his plate of food on the floor and stood over the slave. He stomped down on the slaves' ankle and heard a loud snap. The man let out a cry of pain, and the guard quickly intervened. "That's enough, get downstairs now, you little shit, the guard barked.
He grabbed his plate off of the floor and headed downstairs with the guard, now having to keep other slaves back from him. The guard pulled the door shut as other guards moved in to take care of the rioting slaves. He turned to Jackson, his eyes locked on to him, like that of a predator moving in for the kill.
"You fucked up now, boy, you have no friends to turn to now, even that little bitch won't save you." Jackson sat down on the bench as the guard slammed the cell door shut. "Sir Wentworth will speak to you when you're finished eating, and you best take care not to keep him waiting."
"I don't need them anyway, and I'll be sure to eat quickly for Sir Wentworth, master."`
"That attitude will be what kills you, that bitch knows it all too well."