(Wednesday, 2nd of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
"Eh? We have a mission together?" Jack questioned Zane while his Badger familiar rested on Jack's shoulder.
"Looks like it, I wonder why we've been put together." Zane looked at his phone, checking it for information. "Apparently we're going to Cuauhti."
"Cuauhti...same country as that Lady of the Candle person." Jack recalled the piece of information Zane told him about just the other day. "What would we have to do over there?"
"Not sure, as far as we know, it's just a mission where we have to deliver a precious piece of cargo." Zane informed Jack of the contents of the mission. "We'll also be going there with two others, Freya and Caroline."
"Well we should head to the Headmaster's office so we can get a briefing." Jack suggested the idea to Zane, who agreed with him.
"So...we're not going to talk about the honey badger on your shoulder?" Zane pointed at the beast, who hissed. "I thought they smelled repulsive."
"I bought a special soap that can neutralize foul odors from Valley." Jack remembered that Valley was an online store with just about anything imaginable. "It's pretty dope."
"So the badger is your familiar?" Zane asked, and Jack nodded. "...I would have expected your familiar to be a dinosaur or something."
"There are a bunch of dinosaur types, you mean like a t-rex, stegosaurus, triceratops?" Jack questioned Zane, who thought for a couple minutes before answering.
"A dodo bird." Zane answered, and while that wasn't a dinosaur, it was certainly possible.
"Shut it, your familiar is probably gonna be a rat, I know it."
"Hey, I don't want a familiar, so I'm not getting one."
Jack and Zane walked through the grassy stone courtyard that was quite possibly larger than the school itself. The massive courtyard had a park in the middle of it, and walls were standing tall at the ends of the courtyard. The school stood tall towards the north, seemingly overlooking the courtyard to protect them. On the South, East, and West walls were numerous apartment complex-like buildings. These buildings were there for the numerous refugees from warring countries to live in until they're able to find someplace else. If anyone intentionally causes trouble here, they're kicked out. As Jack and Zane walked, Jack noticed someone who was not a refugee, but a classmate of his. Caroline was a pale girl around Jack's age with curly brown hair in a ponytail and amber eyes. She wore a black shirt, a dark blue parka, jean shorts, and black boots. She also had a black cap on.
"Hey, Caroline." Jack greeted the girl, who looked up from her phone and noticed him.
"Oh hey, you guys are Jack and Zane, right?" Caroline guessed, and the two nodded. "Great! So we're going on a mission together or something?"
"Yeah, we need to head to somewhere in Cuauhti, I'm not sure, but I think we need to deliver something important." Zane answered while he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Oh hey, that's the same area as the Lady of the Candle!" Caroline sounded excited about heading to Cuauhti for the same reasons they were. "Maybe I can get my fortune told to me!"
"Well Cuauhti is a small country, so you never know." Zane thought to himself, and Jack forgot what the countries looked like, so he'll take his word for it. "Still, we need to prioritize the mission at hand."
"Let's get going then, I need to know if I'll pass next week's test!" Caroline adjusted her hat before joining the two guys to head towards Herakles' office. "Hey, we should get Freya too, since she's with us on the mission."
"Is she a friend of yours?" Jack asked the brown haired girl, who nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, we're both from the same town on the border of Christus and Vita Bergen, so we know each other." Caroline informed Jack as the three of them walked to the main school building.
The three of them kept on walking until they walked past the library, where Caroline suddenly broke away from the rest of the group. Jack and Zane were both confused until they saw her walking towards a girl holding an axe. Caroline waved to the girl, and in response, the other girl looked up. The axe wielding girl returned the wave awkwardly before Caroline talked to her. After some time, Caroline walked back over to Jack and Zane with the girl following her close behind.
"Alright, this is Freya, a berserker." Caroline introduced Jaxk and Zane to Freya. "Freya, this is Zane the hacker and Jack the archeologist."
"Hey." Freya greeted both Jack and Zane, instantly the two could tell she wasn't much of a talker. She was a pale, thin girl with amethyst eyes and Ruby red eyes. She wore a red leather jacket, a white shirt, ripped jeans, sneakers, and a black beanie.
"Wait, you never told us your class yet." Zane pointed at Caroline, who smiled before a ball of lightning appeared in her hand. "Oh yeah, you can make lightning appear in your hand~. You have any idea how little that narrows it down? I can do that too."
"Seriously?" Jack turned his head to Zane, and the badger did the same thing as him. "Why don't you do that more often?"
"I'm a support class, fights aren't exactly ideal for me." Zane crossed his arms. "So anyway, what class are you?"
"I use a unique weapon called Whirlwind Waltz." Caroline announced before conjuring a rainbow above her head. "You can't see it, but it exists and allows me to control the weather."
"Oh hey it's one of those weird weapons that's more based on feeling rather than actually holding it?" Zane asked, and Caroline nodded. "That's pretty neat, I wish I had one of those."
All of them began heading to Herakles' office to receive a briefing of the mission. After five minutes of walking together, the four of them reached the massive oak doors to Herakles' office. Jack pushed the doors open with his hands. Inside Herakles' office, the four saw the man in question sitting down at his desk, reading a book that looked terribly small in his massive hands.
"Ah, good, just the four I wanted to see." Herakles set his book down and put a bookmark inside of it before closing the book. "As you must have read from my email, I'm having you all go to Cuauhti to deliver something- Why is there a honey badger on your shoulder, Jack?"
"She likes to feel tall." Jack answered without a second thought before introducing the honey badger. "Also, I named her Jojo."
"You named your honey badger...Jojo?????" Herakles let out a deep sigh.
"Yep."
"Okay, you and I are going to have a serious talk about this later." Herakles then pulled out a navy blue box from underneath his desk. "This is what you guys are delivering."
"That is indeed a fancy box." Caroline smirked while looking down at the box, Herakles looked annoyed, so he used his gloves to pop off the lid. "Oh hey, a candle."
"This candle is to be delivered to the one they call 'the Lady of the Candle'." Herakles ordered the four. "There will be a shuttle to take you all to Cuauhti. This candle is to be guarded to the best of your ability."
"What's so special about this candle?" Freya was about to touch the candle but Herakles put the lid back on it to prevent her from touching it.
"This candle is from Hajaar Mandir, and it's specifically designed for the Lady of the Candle." Herakles informed the four before handing the box to Zane. "Zane, I want you to hack into possible intruder's devices to track their location. Caroline, use Whirlwind Waltz to ensure they don't get close. Freya, Jack, you guys are in charge of taking care of them should they get close."
"Yes Sir!" The four of them shouted and Jack grabbed the box as the other three of his friends left to go pack their bags.
"Hey Jack, those relics you received are Little Daylight, Father Time, Rumplestiltskin, the Wellerman, Fox and Hound, Red Riding Hood, and Lang." Herakles informed you. "Look them up in a relic book, and you'll be able to find them easily."
"Thanks, but you guys can't keep giving me weapons, especially since I can't always bring an armory with me at all times." Jack informed Herakles, who handed him a weird watch. "Oh look, another Artifact."
"It's not an artifact, it's something your mother made." Herakles informed Jack, and Jack grabbed the watch to get a better look at it. "It allows you to summon items that belong to you."
Jack picked up the watch and saw that it was a watch made from a kind of white steel. The hands of the watch were made of gold, and the letters seemed to glow green against the black backing.
"My mother...she made this watch?" You put on the watch, and saw that it was a perfect fit for you.
"Yes, she was a genius inventor and dreamer who managed to create things that most people could only dream of." Herakles explained to Jack. "With that glove, summoning your artifacts will be easy, you just need to imagine you're holding it, close your eyes, and the weapon will pop into your hands."
"Why don't you keep this thing for yourself?" Jack asked and tried testing out the glove by summoning the flintlock rifle, Father Time. Jack imagined holding the rifle and closed his eyes, somehow summoning it in his hands.
"I don't use weapons, and if I did, it'd be something easy to keep on me." Herakles informed Jack. "To send the weapon back, just snap your fingers."
"Headmaster Herakles...forgive me for being nosy, but is the reason why you're helping me so much the same reason why Hero goes to this school?" Jack asked Herakles, who wore a grim expression on his face. "You don't have to tell me, I just want to be able to help."
"Angelo, Matt, Alice, Hero, and you." Herakles listed off five names, leaving Jack confused. "There's a great evil out there that destroyed the whole continent nine years ago. Geppetto and I are no longer fit to take them on. Two of our greatest fighters, Solomon and Tiamat were branded as criminals after 12/12/12 because the governments needed someone to blame. Everyone in your class has unrivaled potential, but you five...you five will be our best of the best. So until the day comes, focus on becoming stronger, smarter, and most importantly, more human. I'll let you know all the details when you're ready."
"Alright, but if it's anything urgent, please let me know immediately." Jack requested of the giant man, who smiled.
"I'll do you one better, I'll alert the entire class." Herakles jokes, since when did Herakles throw around jokes? "Okay, maybe I shouldn't make jokes, you look so uncomfortable."
Herakles gave Jack the box with the candle, and Jack took it before leaving the office. People avoided Jack as he walked through the hallway because of the honey badger on your shoulder. Jack walked to his dorm and set the candle on his counter. Instead of packing, Jack looked at a bookshelf. The book that caught his attention the most is a book called 2012. Supposedly, 9 years ago, there was an event that destroyed EVERYTHING, leaving only ruins that was caused by Solomon and Tiamat fighting, accidentally bringing in innocent bystanders and taking countless lives. Jack was alive at the time, but remembered nothing thanks to the amnesia. Something about the story seemed off to him, maybe it was his unconscious trying to tell him something? But what could it tell you?
"Damn, what kind of threat do we need to prepare for?" Jack was the only student who knew that they had to prepare, but he had no idea what to prepare from.
There was a knock at Jack's door. Jack got up from the chair he sat on and walked towards the door to open it. Jack opened the door to see it was both Alice and Molly, with Molly holding onto some kind of video game console and Alice was holding a board game, Jack thinks it's called Polymono. Upon opening the door, Jojo walked to the door from the couch, hissing the entire way.
"Hey Ja- WHY IS THERE A HONEY BADGER?" Molly jumped back and landed against the wall opposite of the door.
"Her name is Jojo." Jack introduced Jojo before picking up the badger and holding her up like a cat.
"Aw, she's so cute!" Alice attempted to pet Jojo, but given how the thing was hissing, both Jack and Alice thought that would be a terrible idea. "And violent too...!"
"Jojo, bad, these are friends!" Jack tapped the badger on the nose, and it stopped hissing. "If anyone is an enemy, you'll know instantly because we don't play the 'Keep your enemies close' game!"
"Yeah that's true, Jack's a horrible liar." Alice walked into Jack's dorm with Molly following close behind.
"So what brings you guys here?" Jack asked the two girls, who entered his dorm and sat down on his couch. "I have a mission tomorrow, so I'd like to sleep tonight."
"Well we haven't really gone on any missions together yet, so I wanted to spend some time with you." Alice held up her board game. "Do you remember how to play Polymono?"
"Amnesia, of course I don't." Jack then remembered Molly being here. "Wait, we just had a mission together. Why are you here?"
"I was bored." Molly adjusted her loose jumpsuit, and you saw condoms fall out of her back pocket. "...Very bored."
"No horni." Alice karate chopped Molly's head.
"HARDER MOMMY!" Molly seems to have said that out of reflex, then clutched her head and looked at Alice. "Why are you so strong? Kind of hot though..."
Jack watched as Molly and Alice fully entered the dorm, and Alice took a seat at the coffee table while Molly jumped onto Jack's bed. Alice watched as Molly buried her face in Jack's pillow. Alice looked at Jack, and Jack shrugged. Molly's legs began kicking the air.
"Molly, quit being weird." Jack ordered as he placed his hand on his closet door.
"Oh yeah? Make me!" Molly shouted at Jack whilst wearing a smug smile, and Jack opened his closet. From his closet, Jack pulled out the massive gun, Little Daylight. Molly's eyes went wide and she appeared before Jack in a dogeza position. "I'm sorry. Plez forgib."
"Well that was quick, I could have sworn I saw an afterimage." Alice commented as she set up the Polymono board on your coffee table.
"It's a joke, don't worry." Jack smiled as he put Little Daylight back into his closet. "I don't want to blow a hole in my dorm."
"Yey!" Molly celebrated to herself before walking to the coffee table and sitting down across from Alice. "Oh! I call dibs on the car piece!"
"I guess I'll be the cat then." Alice watched Jack sit down on the side of the coffee table. "Jack, what piece do you want? We have a trash can, cow, chicken, broken bottle, farmer, and a clock tower."
"I'll play with the clock tower." Jack answered, and Alice handed him the silver piece that kind of looked like a clock tower.
As the three of them played the game, Jack slowly learned the rules and how annoying the jail space was. While Jack was in jail, he made some beef sandwiches using the beef that Billy and his mother sent to him from his ranch. Jack wondered how Billy and his mother were doing as he toasted some bread. Jack made three sandwiches consisting of beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and an egg. Jack finished making the three sandwiches and put them on one plate before walking back to the table to see Alice holding tons of Polymono dollars while Molly had only three dollars.
"Jack, Alice has all the money!" Molly pointed at Alice while Jojo sat in the blonde girl's lap.
"Hehe, I win!" Alice had a smug smile on her face while she fanned herself with the fake bills.
"But I barely played..." Jack kept on getting the 'go to jail' cards.
"Sorry Jack, but if it helps, these sandwiches look delicious." Alice smiled while eyeing the sandwiches you put on the table.
"I hope you enjoy them, because I've been trying to find a way to use up the beef before it goes bad." Jack informed the goth girl, who tied her lengthy hair behind her head. "Having long hair like that seems like a pain, why don't you cut it?"
"Because my mom said I have nice hair, and loved to tie it into different styles." Alice smiled while she stroked her hair. "Since she died on the 12/12/12 incident, I swore to myself I would never cut it."
"Wow, so that explains why your hair looks like a cape." Molly ruined the emotional moment, and Alice laughed.
"Yeah, I guess it does, but if I make a braid with this, it's so thick and heavy that it's a weapon!" Alice bragged excitedly, and Jack was happy with these small moments, talking about these little nothings.
And then Molly said something stupid and ruined everything.