After hoisting the bulging backpack onto his shoulders, Jake trudged his way out, huffing loudly as he realised how heavy the bag was. Grumbling rudely about Strados, he opened the door with his toes, and exited the building. As Jake disappeared into the background, Kyle and Lyanc are seen gazing at him. "Kyle," began Lyanc, "How do you feel about him?" Kyle, confused, just turned to look at him, and remained silent.
After a brief moment, he replied "He feels... right. I don't know why exactly, he exudes a sense of... safety. Yes, safety." Eyes initially squinting in thought, it relaxed once he found how Jake made him feel. "Really, hmm." Finger in his lips, Lyanc pondered at this, before turning around and retuning back to the workshop behind the counter.
__________________________________________________________________________________
After managing, to somehow, return back home with all of his items, still present and unpacked. Wheezing in through the doorway, he dumped all of his equipment onto the floor next to the door, before collapsing next to it, tired after dragging all of this through the busy streets. Although the attention nearly killed him with sheer embarrassment, he persevered through with sheer willpower and self-hypnosis, with self-hypnosis shielding him from most of the pain.
After checking through every equipment, and ensuring that none were missing from the bag, he cleaned himself up slightly, before practicing Prathee Sanrak, for he did not know what the situation would be like inside the ruin, where danger and disaster lurked everywhere. To be safe, he still practiced Prathee Sanrak, even if the improvement seemed miniscule despite his efforts. As he practiced though, a silent pair of eyes watched him, guarding him, guiding him.
Though he felt the stare, Jake did not know where it came from. Trying his best to seem nonchalant despite the surveillance, as soon as he finished practicing, he bolted back into the house, though he knew this would alarm his stalker. But he did so anyways, for he had a strange sense that all will be well, despite not knowing why.
The next day, when he went to school, he submitted a letter of absence for the next couple of days, as he told the school that he had registered at the Hall of Martial Hall at the Federation. Though gobsmacked at the revelation, for they knew that he was an orphan and did not have the access to the resources the richer and more opulent had, they were forced to accept it when Jake showed his card.
After everything was done, Jake went home and prepared for the expedition tomorrow.
As soon as the sun rose, no, even before that, Jake jumped up from the bed, the sheer force nearly destroying it. He hurriedly brushed his teeth and got ready, before hoisting his luggage and going to the designated location, ready to enter the ruin.
After the short yet grueling journey with the taxi, which the same driver from the first journey was present, Jake dropped of at his location: Frierach Forest.
Despite being so early, a large crowd had managed to gather here. From the looks of it, nearly 90% of the adventurers who had accepted this commission had gathered here early, trying their best to get the best possible location. Just as Jake believed that he would be squished here, a large hand grabbed him, and dragged him into the front.
He did not have any time at all to sort out who had taken him, when an adventurer, disgruntled for being pushed aside, called out "Oi there, who do you think you are? We was waiting here from last night, so what gives you the right to cut in line, huh?" Just as the adventurer was about to unsheathe his sword, the being turned his head, revealing himself to be Strados.
"I believe that I do have the right, considering that I am the current handler for this mission. So basically, what I'm saying here is that: I. AM. THE. RULE" With a final warning, Strados made the adventurer cower, wetting their pants, before dragging Jake, and pushing him beside the portal.
As Jake reorientated himself, he found himself standing in front of a bronze gate, etched with symbols and glyphs, ever-changing and eve-moving. Murals and pictures depicted creatures known and unknown, each depicting their own history and feats. Despite being just a gate, Jake could not help but feel emotional when staring at it. Thinking that it was just him, he turned around, finding out that there still people who cried, yet it seemed that only the human beings where affected. Though curious, he just ignored it, insisting on just focusing his task on hand.
Suddenly Strados talked to Jake, voice grave. "Boy, what happens to you after you enter, I won't be able to help you at all. Just remember: always be aware, be awake, and most importantly, be afraid." With this cryptic message, Strados turned around, before ushering Jake to enter the gate before anyone else.
Taking heed, he immediately stepped in, only to be hit by a myriad of colours, before being ejected onto a brown, rocky plateau.
After getting rid of his nausea, he got up to explore his surroundings. what he saw though, made him drop his bag: Green wind flowed in haphazard manner sporadically, corroding and dissolving anything that walked its path, rocks rumbled across the prairie, as if having a mind of its own. Blue grass grew in tiny patches, ice emanating from their tips, covering the surrounding region in light snow.
The sky though, terrified him. Etched up high, was a sun and a moon, appearing and spinning simultaneously across each other, going in different directions. The terrifying thing though, was the fact that despite giving of heat and light, they seemed to have been etched in crayon, giving a sense of desolation and depravity.
This is J-616-A