Motion sickness was probably the biggest sensation in his body.
He woke up feeling drowsy and tired.
In his mind flashed the memory of Kelly mentioning something about Zeke.
"And Zeke said you didn't have a heart."
Jack narrowed his eyes, slowly moving the blanket to reveal his legs.
He got out of bed slowly, avoiding to wake Kelly.
He yawned as he stretched his arms.
After a few push-ups he left the room.
His new target was Zeke, again.
For the moment there was nothing left to do but ignore the pair of rogues.
On the way to Zeke's room he was nowhere to be seen, leaving only this place.
He tapped lightly on the door.
Zeke was drawn in front of him as the door slid "Quite quickly" he remarked.
"I thought the matter was over."
Sigh. Jack sighed "I'm not here to meet you. I'm here to find out about me."
Zeke raised an eyebrow and stepped aside "Come on in" he said matter-of-factly.
Jack made his way to the couch in the room and sat down quickly.
Zeke approached slowly, each step sounding distinctly individual.
"What exactly do you mean?" Zeke crossed his arms.
"You said I don't have a heart? What did you mean?"
"You can't feel it?" Zeke paused and sighed "No, of course you can't, if you're not able to detect an aura as strong as mine...".
Jack chuckled "So?"
Zeke laughed briefly "It's very simple, you have a blessing.... Or rather a seal. I can feel traces of divine energy but.... Is it weaker? How strange."
Before Jack could do anything, Zeke appeared in front of him, touched Jack's forehead and it began to burn.
A beam of white light appeared on the forehead, two lines separated one dark half from the other divided into two glowing parts.
Zeke laughed wryly "I see, stupidity".
He took a few steps back, before dropping into a chair his expression filled with genuine curiosity "How did you live like this your whole life?".
Then he noticed his mistake and said, "Sure. I guess you can't wish for something you don't know exists".
Jack's expression showed nothing but confusion, "I really don't understand what you mean.
Zeke sighed and grimaced in disbelief "I don't know how to put it into words. It's a seal divided into four cores. They have the power to restrain even the strongest emotions."
Jack looked thoughtful as he uttered "Emotions Huh? Why the hell would it have something like that?".
Zeke sighed deeply "That I would like to know. The seal was established with divine power.... Yet the gods ceased to exist a long time ago."
"...Gods?" Jack stared into the void with a pained expression.
Zeke closed his eyes "As far as I know they're neither too close nor too far from what you're imagining."
"..." Jack's eyes literally lost their sparkle "What I'm thinking is.... I'm some kind of puppet?"
Zeke opened his eyes and leaned back against the wall next to the couch "It's certainly absurd but, you don't have to exaggerate."
" Overreact?" Jack shook his head and sighed "I wish I did."
He rolled his shoulders forward and lowered his gaze "Less than a week ago I was nothing more than a captain with a desire for revenge, no more, no less."
"Today however" He laughed wryly "Somehow I'm a Bríer, I'm fighting a campaign against alien invaders and I happen to be stunted because of a seal from who knows how many years ago? I feel like someone is playing with me.
Zeke was particularly curious and took a box from the nearest cabinet.
From the box he pulled out a syringe which he quickly embedded in Jack's shoulder.
"What the hell?" he asked in a rather subdued tone as he stared at Zeke.
Zeke slowly drew blood into the syringe and once full pulled it apart.
He closed his eyes and said "Separate the orgin" as he tapped the tip of the syringe with his right index finger.
A bridge of energy formed at the tip of the syringe and poured out from Zeke.
The blood inside the syringe began to swirl, formed a mini hurricane and within the eye gathered traces of blood that began to glow crimson.
"I see" Zeke sighed "Quite a move your life is."
Jack raised an eyebrow "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I still find the seal absurd" Zeke nodded with a wave of his hand "However, at least it seems to have an explanation".
Jack relaxed his expression and laughed wryly "I'll take a guess, I'm a descendant of a god who sealed his own offspring."
Zeke remained silent and simply crossed his arms.
That relaxed expression quickly turned into a terrified "Really?".
"Most likely, albeit diluted... I'd say you have a hundredth of a god" He replied calmly.
"All this for such an insignificant amount..." Jack sighed as he slid his right hand over his face.
"Look on the bright side, you only need to break two more cores" Zeke smiled wryly.
"How do I do that?"
"Overloading, I guess it started to break down when you started to cave in from the pressure of the last few days."
"Overloading..." Jack jumped off the couch "Thanks" He said before walking away thoughtfully.
Zeke laughed listlessly and threw himself on top of the couch.
"What a troubled life."
He then slid his hand into mid air, a hologram spun right in front of him.
"..." Zeke sighed resignedly ｢Even after moving everything to the higher rates I'm far from recovering what I lost｣.
...
"I wonder if there will be a new chapter" He whispered as he stared at the ceiling.
✠ - ✠
Just as he imagined, Ledia's room was little short of empty.
he shook him head slightly as she formed a wry smile.
Soon after that he went to Brendan's room.
It didn't take the slightest access to the interior to know that the pair of dupes were together.
The noise was less than conspicuous, from the shifting nature of the tones, he assumed they were playing.
He let out a listless laugh and knocked lightly on the door.
Immediately the noise stopped.
A careless Brendan revealed himself behind the door with a strange pose as his hand pushed on the door.
"You know you can open it with just a click?" Jack asked without showing any reaction.
"Is that so?" Brendan stood up and with a dubious expression snapped his fingers.
The door began to close, halfway through he snapped his fingers again and it came back open.
This went on for three cycles before Jack said "Can I come in?".
"Sure" Brendan stepped aside- making way for Jack and revealing Ledia.
The latter adopted a bored expression as she twirled the map with her fingers.
Jack walked past quickly and sat down in front of what was presumably Brendan's seat- next to Ledia.
"Did you come to join?" Brendan asked with a smile as he made his way to his seat.
"I can" He replied matter-of-factly, then dipped his hand into the hologram and picked up a minotaur-shaped piece "However, I came to get to know you better."
Ledia arched her left eyebrow "And that?".
"It's quite simple" Jack rolled the dice smiled as he saw the resulting number- 18.
"A team isn't just a group of people working together" As he led the minotaur to the 18th square, it landed on a special.
He drew a random card and smiled "A team is a group of people united and cooperating for a greater force, friendship, revenge, power, wealth, an ideal and anything else".
He placed the card where his piece was and the box turned green "Our union was based on survival? Now what's left? Something has to hold us together and I want it to be friendship".
Ledia laughed in surprise "I never expected that from you.... Maybe Kelly but... Anyway" She rolled the dice and advanced 7 squares "There's not much to know about me. At no point did I lie about it, before all this my world was my room."
"So a homebody" Jack replied as he watched Brendan roll the dice.
"I'm not special either" Brendan added as he moved his piece "All my life I've been chasing a dream and nothing more than that. I have no particular connections or hobbies".
"Heeeh" Jack remarked as he rolled the dice "And what is that dream?".
"It's nothing special, it's simply the future."
Jack narrowed his eyes, rolled the dice "The future?" he moved forward 7 squares and ended up on a red one, moved back 3 squares.
"It's really not complicated, I want to materialize the best possible future" He replied as Ledia took her turn.
"And how did you plan to accomplish something like that?".
"I... I've spent most of my life studying the workings of societies."
When it came time to roll his dice he realised his mistake.
Jack let out a wry laugh and Ledia narrowed her eyes.
As Brendan moved his piece, Jack changed the flow of the conversation, "Back to the above, you really didn't leave your room? Ledia."
Ledia sighed "Sure, my life has been games and my livelihood has been serials."
Jack rolled his dice with a grin "What a pair".
Behind his smile hid a contemptuous look ｢A too obvious lie, his skill with the whip and those injuries...｣ He laughed inwardly as he moved his piece.
✠ - ✠
Beatrice slowly approached the reflective Otis "Why did you give him that mission."
"You know him" She said without taking her gaze from the empty space outside the window "Even if I hadn't given it to him, he would have asked for it to be given to him."
Beatrice crossed her arms slightly disappointed "I guess you're right, he really does like to go big."
"On the other hand" Otis turned his head slightly in Beatrice's direction "Why did you let his lies slide?".
"Was it necessary to put it that way" Beatrice laughed for a moment, then sighed deeply "Yes, I knew all along they were lies".
Then she clasped her hands together and lightly rubbed her fingers together "In the end it was all just his decisions. When he hugged me, I realised that.... Maybe I had overreacted...".
"I came to feel betrayed that he kept something like that from me.... However, it's not for me to know something so personal... Because... You know."
Otis looked slightly surprised and confused.
Beatrice blushed "Well.... We don't have that kind of relationship."
Otis laughed wryly and turned his gaze back to the void "Quite a reaction.... I won't deny that you overreacted but don't you feel bad that he justified himself with lies?"
"A little" He admitted before turning his gaze in the same direction as Otis "But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want him to treat me like that more often."
"You want me to lie to you?" Otis laughed out loud.
"No... I mean what followed him you know, he's never been that nice to me before. I can still feel his rough fingers on my back."
Otis watched Beatrice's expression out of the corner of his eyes. A feeling of completeness washed over him as he saw the longing expression on his daughter's face.