(Friday, 4th of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
Jack woke up, lying on something soft. Jack sat up and looked around, noticing that he appeared to be in some kind of guest bedroom, that was extremely empty with the only thing in the room being a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. Jack put his hand on his forehead, and the fever was gone. Jack looked in the corner of the room to see Freya holding two axes. One of which was Giant's Path, and the other he didn't know.
"It appears the gods want you to gather all the artifacts." Freya handed Jack Giant's Path. "I don't mind though, they gave me something much better than Giant's Path."
"Where are we though?" Jack asked, and noticed that the axe Freya was holding was now gone. Could he have imagined it? No, Jack recalls the distinct red ribbon around the hilt.
"Apparently the tunnel is connected to the mansion that contains the Lady of the Candle." Freya answered Jack's question as she walked to the side of the door, where Jack's jacket was hanging on a hook and the prosthetic leg was leaning against the wall. "Weirdly enough, she doesn't want anyone else other than you to deliver it."
"Okay...I'm partially convinced this is a trap to get me stabbed for no reason." Jack moved himself to the edge of the bed. "Can you hand me my leg? I feel like this floor will shatter if I jump on it."
"Oh yeah, catch." Freya grabbed Jack's prosthetic leg and tossed it to him, and Jack caught it using both hands. "Before you get 'stabbed' by the Lady of the Candle, the head of what remains of El Tarot Familia would like to speak to you."
"The head of who?" Jack didn't understand what Freya was saying, so she had to break it down for him to understand.
"El Tarot Familia, it's the official name of the Lady of the Candle's royal guard." Freya watched as Jack put his leg back on. "Apparently, 20 family members and their spouses were killed in 12/12/12, leaving behind only their respective cards. The only two remaining members are the Emperor and Empress, but they're old to have offspring of their own."
"So...once they die, the Lady of the Candle will be defenseless again, right?" Jack asked the girl, who nodded. "Damn, that must suck.
"The tarot cards that gave their power to the family won't work without the Lady's divine gift, yet she refuses to activate them." Freya shrugged as you walked to the door. "Go talk with the Last Head of the Familia, see what she needs before delivering this."
Freya handed Jack the box with the candle in it, and Jack opened the box to see if the candle was still there. Jack saw the candle inside the box and closed the lid before leaving the room. Jack then entered a new room, a massive one at that. The new room had faded, baby blue walls that extended 3 meters up, where they met the ceiling. There was a strip of ceiling that extended straight down the middle of the rectangular room, extending from one end to the other. This strip of ceiling extended another meter or two upwards. Instead of the blue walls, the walls of the extended strip consisted of stained glass windows, with one side depicting 11 major arcana tarot cards and the other side depicting the other 11. Weirdly enough, there was some kind of clothesline with a pulley attached to one wall, with the wire going straight through the whole length of the strip, only to disappear into the dark abyss that was a window-like hole in the wall of the strip. Jack couldn't see inside the hole, but there was something Jack could see.
The faint light of the candle.
"You know, it's bad luck to look directly at the Lady of the Candle." Back at the ground, Jack saw an elderly man with a mustache sitting at a long dining table with 22 chairs. He sat in one of the end chairs, while an elderly woman sat in the opposite one. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Archeologist, my name is Eddy, and that over there is my older sister, Maria. She's the head here."
"Um...where are Zane and Caroline?" Jack asked, noticing that the elderly woman was giving off a menacing aura. Jack could even see purple kanji hovering around her.
"The hacker and weather sorceress are looking around with the honey Badger, trying to see where your assailant went." The elderly woman's voice was stern yet caring, but Jack was still intimidated. "So, your task is to deliver the candle to the Lady of the Candle...were you the one Herakles handed the box to?"
"Yes???" Jack answered the woman, who began examining him, as though she was mentally testing Jack. "Please don't murder me, I have one leg. Please have pity on my poor, unfortunate soul."
"...Kid, I talk to Herakles on a regular basis to inform him of important events happening in Cuauhti, and he told me about a student who has almost unlimited potential and could possibly use what tarot cards remained." Maria pulled out a black briefcase and opened it to reveal 19 tarot cards, with the missing ones being the Emperor, the Empress, and the Fool. "That's assuming the Lady of the Candle will allow you to use their power."
"Okay, Herakles has been dumping a bunch of artifacts into my lap for no reason, almost all of which I haven't even used in a fight, so why is everyone trying to give me shit?" Jack sighed before squeezing his brow. "Like what the hell is going on?"
"Not surprising, Herakles hasn't told you about this, but there's something." Eddy looked up at the stained glass. "Nine years ago, when the event of 12/12/12 occurred, an event I'm sure you remember-"
"I can't remember anything, I have amnesia." Jack pointed at his head. "It's a long story, but I can't remember anything that didn't happen a month ago."
"Well that certainly explains it." Eddy kept his eyes glued to the ceiling. "Herakles told us that before the incident, you would have easily been in the top ten students at the whole school."
"Thank you for reminding me of what I could have been."
"Correction, we're informing you of what you could still become." Maria corrected. "You see, one of your class skills as an archeologist is the 'Power of Ancients', which allows you to learn skills that are on the brink of being forgotten by the world, or have existed for a certain timeframe."
"Dope, so why did you all want to talk to me?" Jack asked the elderly duo, and Maria simply glared at him.
"Like I said, there's a massive threat, but we can't locate it." Maria crossed her arms. "Herakles came up with a plan. He would raise the greatest generation of warriors the world has ever seen while the rest of us would look for the threat. Problem is, Herakles is stretched thin, he's trying to make all Thirty of you into the best Guardians possible, and that's not even mentioning the squads of guardians he's in charge of, the faculty, and even the other students. Most of those people aren't even aware of the coming threat."
"It feels like I'm the only person in my class who's aware of all this." Jack recalled this 'threat' that he thought was connected to Hero in some way.
"Oh you're not the only person, there are two others that possibly know about this, the one who walked around shirtless and one that gives off the vibe of an emo kid." Eddy nonchalantly told Jack that Matt and Angelo could possibly knew this threat. "Don't focus on them, only focus on becoming stronger, and using every resource you can. Everyone else in your class is doing the same to reach their limit, and surpass it."
"So you're offering me these tarot cards because you're scared of something?" Jack asked the two elders.
"That, and because no one else is gonna be able to use them, so we might as well give them to you so the Lady of the Candle can imbue them with power once more."
"That's assuming she agrees to help me." Jack was handed the black case and examined it, noticing how the fool card is missing. "Hey, if you two are the Emperor and Empress, where's the fool?"
"That card was...stolen from us by an unknown person." Maria looked regretful. "If you run into the person who stole the fool card, you need to run away because that is the most dangerous card."
"What makes it so dangerous?" Jack asked before closing the briefcase.
"The fool allows anyone to copy any magic spell used against them, it also boosts that spell's power to its full potential." Eddy informed Jack before gesturing to the lengthy dining table he sat at. "Now I think it is a good time to give an offering to the Lady of the Candle, don't you agree?"
"How do I do that?" Jack held both the briefcase of cards and the box with the candle in it.
"Simple, just stand on the table and offer the two boxes to that window over there." Eddy gestured to a spot on the dining table that had no food on it. "If you'd like, we have a stool you can use too."
Jack stood on top of the table and held the two containers upwards towards the window, awaiting some kind of response. Jack could still see the faint candle light from his spot on top of the table. Jack heard the sound of squeaking, and he turned his head to see the pulley on the other side of the elevated strip was rotating. From the hole in the roof, the line of the pulley was suddenly bringing something out. Jack waited for a moment or two and watched one half of the line rapidly appear from one end, and the opposite line disappeared into the darkness of the room. The mysterious object reached the side of the wall with the pulley, and you could see that it was followed by 27 more objects. Jack noticed that they were in a pattern, with the first flag being a crown, the second being a lit candle, the third being a flag, the fourth being a lit candle, and the cycle of countries and lit candles continued. The flags were large enough for Jack to grab them if he stood on his toes.
"Well well well, looks like the Lady of the Candle has high hopes for you." Maria looked at all the flags, while Jack was confused. "You see, after every flag, she puts a lit candle flag if you influence that country in a good way, and an unlit candle if you influence the country in a bad way. Still, this is the first time I've seen her use...that...flag."
"What flag?" Jack couldn't tell what flag Maria was talking about, much less which country is represented with what flag.
"If I had to guess, the Lady of the Candle wants you to grab onto whatever flag you feel like so she can pull you up." Eddy smirked before gesturing to the flags. "So kid, take your pick."
Jack looked at all the flags before he decided to go with the one that fought his eye the most. A pure white flag with the depiction of a golden lion, wearing a silver crown with blue and green jewels. Jack held the box with the candle underneath his left arm while holding the briefcase with the cards in his left hand. Jack used his right hand to grip the lion flag before the pulley began pulling him towards the window. Jack began approaching the wall, but before he made contact with it, Jack was violently pulled into the window by someone violently grabbing the rope. Jack was pulled into the room, almost dropping the two containers he was carrying. At first everything was pitch black until Jack's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. It looked like a bedroom, almost completely dark, with the only sources of light being from the window Jack just came in from, and a faded candle that ran out of wicker, surrounded by melted wax.
"So...nice to finally meet a human...soul..." Jack looked around the dark room to see a tanned woman with dark brown hair, and glowing orange eyes, like that of a candle. Her hair was tied in a lengthy ponytail by a yellow ribbon. Her attire consisted of yellow pajama pants, with a gray sweater. "Sorry...my speech is a bit...weird...I don't talk...often."
"So you're the lady of the candle?" Jack asked the girl, who nodded slowly. "You look around my age, yet you're apparently centuries old?"
"Now is not...the time...for idle...chatter..." The Lady of the Candle held her hand out and Jack gave her the box with the candle. "Thank you...Archeologist...now...I shall perform...my last prediction..."
"Eh? Your last one?" Jack asked, and the Lady nodded her head once more to confirm this. "How do you know that?"
"When I first...gained my power...the first thing I did...was look into the future..to see...when I'll die." The Lady informed you. "The day I die....is...tomorrow..."
"Wait, if you can see into the future, can't you just prevent your own death?" Jack asked the girl, who shook her head. "Why not?"
"The things I predict...are already set...in stone." The Lady looked down at the box Jack handed her. "We can't afford to waste...anymore time...we must begin..."
"Wait, but we can take you to Sanctuary!" Jack wanted to save this random person, even if he didn't even know her name, and in response, the woman smiled.
"Now I see why...Herakles chose you...But it is for naught...I am destined to die." The woman smiled before gripping the tanned yellow candle that was decorated with golden circles that looked like ripples. "I can only use one more prediction, so what would you like me to predict?"
Jack thought for a moment, and then he thought of some people who he wanted to know about. The first person that came to mind was Molly, who was a disaster in every sense of the word. She was unorganized, odd, and spoiled. Yet she was intelligent and honest. Jack next thought of Zane, he's dependable and quiet, yet he needs help asking a guy out. Say, he's been close to Galahad lately. Speaking of Galahad, Jack thought he was relaxed, strong, and a good friend. Nico and Rico were associated with the word 'friend' in Jack's dictionary. Nico and Rico were pranksters, and annoying, but they always had Jack's back. Othelia was nice, sweet, reliable, and quiet. If Jack ever needed something, she would be there to help. Mifu was also quite helpful, not to mention elegant, graceful, and calm. She was even able to tolerate Alice suddenly showing up and practically forcing her to be friends. Alice...she was the one who was the one who saved Jack after the incident. She was Jack's best friend from before the incident, and she's always stood at your side, always willing to help. Then there's Hero. Every action he does ends up saving people, with or without orders. Despite him being a mystery to Jack, Jack got the feeling he was a good person. Then there were all Jack's other classmates, so many of whom he has yet to meet.
"I'd like to know the prophecy of my whole class." Jack asked the woman, who smiled before taking a breath in.
"Now...let us witness the prophecies of everyone." The Lady of the Candle then took a breath in.
The candle she was holding suddenly lit itself, and the light of the flames engulfed both Jack and the Lady of the Candle. The light then took the form of a warm flame dome that engulfed both Jack and the Lady. Thousands of images flashed by Jack, he could only see that they were all of his classmates, but he couldn't make out what they were doing. All Jack could see were their expressions, which ranged from determined, scared, happy, sad, and angry. The vision then ended by showing Jack's class of people overlooking a sunset, holding hands, but someone was missing in a line. Even if it was just for half a second, Jack realized who was missing from that vision, Alice, his best friend.
"And here is my last prophecy." The Lady of the Candle spoke normally now. "All of you are destined for greatness beyond greatness by defeating the threat that plagues Desponia, and that greatness will come at the cost of the life of one of you."
"Thank you for your divine vision, but I am sorry that it is wrong." Jack picked up the briefcase and smirked. "We will achieve this greatness, defeat this threat, and all without a single one of us dying. Including you....what's your name?"
"My name...Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz." The newly named Lady of the Candle informed Jack.
"Yeah I'm just gonna call you Jauna."
"Please do."