Midnight suddenly stopped, the rest of them continuing to walk for a bit until they noticed, turning back to look at her. Jack frowned beneath his helmet, wondering what crossed her mind that was enough to make her stop dead in her tracks. They had been traveling for almost a week, and were halfway to the capitol city of the empire, Belin, where they would find Emperor Killihan.
"What is it, Midnight?" Drake asked, taking his large sword off of his shoulder and stabbing it into the ground. Midnight looked very concerned, eyes wide, and Jack had a feeling that they were not going to like what she had to say.
"We...have forgotten something very important."
She walked over to them, looking at each of them before she continued.
"The whole plan relies on the Twiverse Kingdom and the Duluhan Empire working together to fight the Nation of Blood. But we completely forgot that the Twiverse Kingdom is far to the west, over two months away from the Duluhan Empire."
Jack's eyes began to grow wide with shock as she finished, driving her point home.
"How can we expect their army to get here in time when it would take four months just to carry a message there and back, let alone mobilize their forces and march them all the way here? There is no way Zillion waits that long; it would be far too late by the time they got here."
They all stood there, stumped at her words, no one able to come up with a clear answer. He cursed loudly, unable to believe that no one thought of this before; the two months they rested were now biting them in the ass.
"Maybe Jack could...I don't know, run there?" Drake asked, scratching his head as they turned to him. "I have seen him run faster than a horse, and he might be able to get there faster than two months."
"That won't work." Midnight said, shaking her head and furrowing her brow, deep in thought as she spoke. "Jack's speed tires him out too quickly; that's why he doesnt use it all the time. He would run for a bit, get too tired to move, and pass out right there. Even with his teleport ability, he has never been to the Twiverse Kingdom before, and I doubt he can teleport places he has never been before."
They all looked at him, the feeble hope in their eyes dying as he shook his head. Noelle turned to Elaine, looking like she had an idea.
"As of now, Jack can't. But Elaine has the most flexible magic in the land, and I have been to the Twiverse Kingdom before."
She turned to the rest of them, looking proud of the idea she came up with.
"If Elaine were to use her magic to share my memory with Jack, then he would be able to teleport there without an issue."
Jack frowned, crossing his arms and wondering if it could be that simple.
"That ability is new to me, and I do not know if I can teleport that far yet. I have not tried teleporting farther than I could see, otherwise I would have simply teleported us closer to the capitol, as we passed by it on our way to the Sanctuary."
They all looked at him, Elaine tilting her head and asking the question they were all thinking.
"Well, why don't you try doing that now?"
He opened his mouth to respond but stopped, realizing that he had no reason not to try. He looked at them, eyes full of hope, and shrugged, walking to the middle of the group.
"Alright, but do not blame me if we end up fused with a tree or something else as horrible. Everyone, grab onto me, and pray that this works."
He closed his eyes, bringing up the memory of the capitol in the distance as he felt the others place their hands on his shoulders and arms, Drake's large hand heavy upon his pauldron. He lost focus for a second, surprised when someone grabbed his hand, but he dismissed it and kept concentrating, opening his eyes as he activated his ability.
Just as before, it was instant, with them suddenly appearing exactly where he was thinking of, on the dirt path that passed the capitol, the large city visible in the distance. He sighed in relief, looking to see that everyone had come with, counting them and ending on Elaine, the one who had grabbed his hand.
Drake cheered in victory, slamming his sword into the ground and laughing as he grabbed Noelle and tossed her into the air, the dark elf gasping as she went over ten feet before falling back down, Drake catching her and getting punched in the head for it. Midnight looked at Belin, relief in her eyes that luck had been on their side for once.
"We just covered a weeks worth of walking in a second." Jerry said, finally speaking up, his dark eyes sparkling with awe. "I have no words for how amazing this is."
"I never doubted you." Elaine said, smiling up at him. He looked over at her, knowing that she meant her words and not understanding why his heart sped up as he held up their hands, her smaller fingers intertwined with his gloved ones.
"Elaine, you can let go now."
She looked at their hands, so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten about them, and immediately blushed red before letting go and looking away in embarrassment. He chuckled, finding her reaction cute, before Drake threw one of his beefy arms around Jack's shoulders.
"We need to talk." was all the larger vampire said as he dragged Jack away from the others. Jack growled, pushing the large vamp's arm off before crossing his own, irked by the rough treatment.
"What was that about?"
To his surprise Drake frowned, leaning down to get to Jack's eye level.
"Are you out of your mind? She grabbed your hand, and you completely ruined the moment. I know you have little to no experience with girls, but this is just sad to watch."
Jack sighed, knowing that he was about to get relationship advice from someone who was just as inexperienced as he was.
"It is painfully clear that you both like each other. Stop beating around the bush already; we live a dangerous life, and we never know when one of us might be given a free pass to the afterlife. This isn't some stranger that you think is pretty, this is someone who has been with us for damn near half a year now, and clearly likes you back."
"That someone is the princess of the elves. Her race was nearly eradicated by ours."
"Who gives a fuck?" Drake replied, getting worked up and placing his hands on Jack's shoulders. "Grow a pair and stop caring about everything else. You have thrown away your entire life for this girl, turning your back on your entire race and dooming yourself to be hunted as a traitor. After everything we have been through, why should you care about little things like that?"
For the second time that day, Jack opened his mouth to argue, stopping when he realized that his friend was right. Why was he hesitating? What did any of that matter, when it was clear she felt the same way? He sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden and glad that they were now just a few hours away from Belin.
"We...will see. I will go at my own pace, and talk to her, see what she really thinks."
"About damn time." Drake said, laughing and grabbing Jack before he could flee, dragging him back to the group cursing and kicking. One of their problems was solved, and he had no problem teleporting long distances. Now they needed to see if Elaine could share Noelle's memories with him, something that was beyond what he could comprehend, while he sorted out his feelings as well as Elaine's. It was going to be a busy day.