Chapter 13 – Cleared Misunderstandings

Blake was utterly shocked. He turned his head down, tightly clenching his fists. He started to feel a churning sensation in his stomach. He started to feel light headed. “There’s no way that he should know about Aaron. Just what is this guy?” he thought.

“That confirms it. I’m right aren’t I?” Blake didn’t bother looking up, he was too scared. A feeling of dread came over him as he imagined what might await him. “How did you come back from that hell?” Blake unclenched his fists. He raised his head and laid his eyes on Jack.

“My name is Blake, not Aaron.” He responded. His voice didn’t waver but he quickly found himself facing away once more.

“Good job, just keep insisting that you don’t know. As you can assume, it’s highly possible that he’s from the future, similar to me. If it comes down to it tell him that you’re from a different world. There’s not much we can do, just try to hold out. If you can’t convince him that you’re not me then he might kill.” Aaron exclaimed.

Not even having time to respond to Aaron, Blake felt a rough, hard hand rest upon his shoulder. He looked up at Jack. “There’s no point in playing dumb. I know who you are.” Jack stated. Out of seemingly nowhere he spun his head and looked into the darkness as if scanning for something before turning back to Blake. “Looks like we’ll have to have this talk at a later time.” Blake could only stare blankly as Jack vaulted out of the wagon. He tied the reigns to a tree so the horses couldn’t run.

He immediately made for the woods. At the same time the horses started freaking out. They tried running away but couldn’t get away. “They look spooked; any ideas why Aaron?” Blake thought.

“Are you telling me that you can’t feel that murderous intent being directed over here?” Aaron asked. “It’s coming from the direction that Jack headed off into.” Blake stared off into the woods but he couldn’t feel a thing.

“I can’t feel a thing. Do you know what the source of it is?”

“I do have an idea but I hope I’m wrong. Go on head after Jack, he might need any help you can give him.”

“Didn’t you say that he isn’t to be trusted? Why should we help him?”

“He can’t be trusted but I’d much rather deal with him.” Aaron yelled.

“Whatever you say.” Blake thought. He carefully and slowly hopped off of the wagon. He circled the wagon until he found himself staring at the direction that Jack had ran off into. He stood there a few moments contemplating but he ran in after Jack. “Just a question Aaron but how am I supposed to know where he went. I can’t feel this intent you speak of.”

“Don’t worry, It’s just up ahead. All you need to do is go in a straight line.” Aaron responded. Blake kept going forward trying to look for any sign of Jack. He went on for a few minutes until he heard Jack’s yells. Blake quickly spotted two silhouettes standing face to face.

He inched ever closer and saw Jack who looked to be speaking to someone.

As Blake got near he saw what Jack was talking to. He felt his heart sink to his stomach. A humanoid figure with horns on his head, claws on his hands and feet. “It was as I feared.” Aaron said. “It’s one of those demons but I have no idea why he’s here. Get closer to listen in on their conversation.” Again Blake closed the distance once more until he was able to hear them speaking. He hid right behind a tree making sure not to make any noise.

“Tell me why you’re after Norman!” Jack yelled.

“Norman?” the demon questioned.

“They’re after Norman?” Blake thought.

“The human that you’re targeting.” Jack informed the demon.

“Oh that human.”

“Yes him. Tell me why you’re after him.”

“I’m just following orders.” After hearing the demon speak Blake was surprised by how human is sounded besides the monotone.

“Orders from who?”

“I don’t have any reason to tell you.” The demon stated.

“I guess I’ll have to beat it out of you then.” Jack mocked. He stretched out his hand and water burst out of it. The water rushed to the demon but it dodged to the side. The water took no time in turning and it quickly found itself clutching onto the demon. It started to cover him head to foot but it seemed unfazed. The demon raised his arm. With one smooth and fast swing, all the water dispersed onto the ground.

He took a running stance before leaping toward Jack. . It raised its leg and kicked Jack in the stomach. The claws appeared to dig in. He went flying until he hit a tree. The tree snapped in half. It started falling but Jack stood back up. He was bleeding from his head and stomach but that didn’t stop him. Water spilled out of his outstretched hand. It slowly started to solidify. After a few second his hands held onto a sword made of ice. Jack charged at the demon as he swung his sword.

The demon raised his hand, trying to block with his claws. It seemed to work for a moment but the sword cut through. Blood started gushing out from the demon’s hand. Jack raised the sword for another swing but missed as the demon leaped backward away from Jack. “I’m not in the mood to fight. I guess you win for today, but you better hope you never run into me again or you will die.” With that, the demon disappeared from sight. Jack lasted no more than a few seconds before falling backwards, landing on the ground. He laid there unmoving. He was breathing heavily. As Blake continued to look on, Aaron appeared next to him/

“Either the demon just wasn’t in the mood like he said or he wasn’t at full power. Either way it was lucky. Let’s go back before Jack notices that we’re gone.” Aaron told him. Blake didn’t move. He stood there in thought. “Blake?” Finally Blake turned to go back the way he came and took a few steps before coming to a complete halt. He rotated 180 degrees and starting walking in Jack’s direction. “What are you doing Blake!!?” Aaron questioned him

“Aaron we need information; any information helps. If he really is from the future like you then we can’t risk one of the others waking up and listening in. What a better place to talk then out here separated from the rest.” Blake said as he increased his gait. Aaron scratched his head.

“If you say so but watch yourself. He might kill you if you’re not careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Blake reassured as he stepped closer to Jack.

“Are you still going to deny that you’re Aaron?” Jack asked. Blake flinched for a moment, but he clenched his fist and continued forward. He felt each step he took grow heavier. Jack sat up like almost nothing had happened. Blake was astonished, he stopped a little bit away from Jack.

“There’s no way the damage isn’t there.” He thought. “Fine I won’t deny it anymore. I’m Aaron.” Blake responded. A look of confusion filled Aaron’s face as he heard Blake speak. “Augue.” Fire burst from his hand, forming a ball. It looked overloaded, ready to blow and to consume anything in its path. Blake pointed his hand directly at Jack. “I’m going to do the questioning now. I’ll decide what I tell you after hearing you out. Starting with the reason that you murdered my parents who trusted you so much.”

“Let me say that using fire against water is not very smart but I’ll talk. I have no reason not to” Jack responded. He took a few breaths before his face twisted with anger. “I just want to say that I wasn’t the one that killed your mother but I was forced to kill your father. Everything appeared to be normal that day that you left to hunt for our food. I was left with your parents at our camp checking over our map and modifying the route that we would be taking. All of the sudden your father’s hand started twitching. His hand sprouted these claws. I was left in a daze. I wasn’t able to respond to his screams telling me to run away.”

Jack made a fist and hit the ground so hard that his hand started bleeding. “Before I knew it. He looked just like one of those creatures from hell. He looked me straight in the eye. I felt myself staring for an endless amount of time but I realized that he wasn’t Norman anymore. He turned to look at your mother and disappeared from my sight. I stood up in a haste and turned all around. As I reached for my sword I heard your mother’s blood curdling screams. I turned to see her impaled by claws coming from your father. I felt helpless as I saw tears running down Norman’s face.”

Blake and Aaron alike stared in disbelief. “It only took a few seconds for her lifeless body to fall limp to the ground. I didn’t know what to do so I did the only thing I knew. I charged at him with my sword. I felt my sword make contact. I gave him a shallow cut as he turned sideways to dodge. I didn’t give him time to get away. I followed up with a thrust to his chest, impaling him. That’s when I noticed you far off in the distance. You ran away immediately and I was tempted to go after you but I decided to stay by my friend’s side. The horns and claws had disappeared. He was barely hanging on. He thanked me and told me that years before that a monster like creature had approached him. It had muttered something before disappearing. He could only assume that his transformation was caused by it.” Blake could hardly believe what he heard. If people could turn into demons than they were much more dangerous than he first thought.

“Hey Aaron tell me, is he telling the truth. Can people turn into these demons?” he thought. Blake didn’t get an immediate response.

“I’m afraid so. I apologize I intended to tell you later. The real reason I tried sneaking myself into their land was to try to find a way to turn them back into humans. I had said that all my comrades had fallen in battle but that’s not all. The full truth is that some of them were captured. The ones that were captured were turned into demons. I was a coward, I couldn’t even kill them knowing some could have been human before… I’ll trust that you can handle Jack. I need some time to myself.” Aaron admitted. He disappeared into nothing leaving Blake to focus his attention back at Jack.

“You ready to talk yet?” Jack asked. Blake stroked his chin as he wondered what he should say.

“Just two questions, I have two questions.”

“What are they?” Jack asked.

“How did you know I was Aaron and how did you come back through time?” Blake asked.

“About how I knew it was you, it was just a hunch to be honest. When I first saw you I felt something was off. On a whim I used a skill to see through deception. I looked over at you only to see you as the Aaron who ran off that day. About how I found myself here I have no idea. Several years after I last saw you, I ended up being fatally wounded in a fight against the demons. I could feel myself dying. I felt strangely at peace as my life ended but all of the sudden I found myself here.” Blake felt weirded out. All of it felt weirdly convenient. “Ready to talk now and can you point that thing somewhere else?” Jack said as he pointed at Blake’s fireball.

“Oh right.” Blake shifted his hand to the sky and shot the fireball. “Let’s start heading back. I can tell you on the way. Can you stand?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Jack planted a foot on the ground and used it as a crutch to stand up. He started walking after Blake who had already started.

“I guess I should start by telling you that I’m not Aaron.” Blake heard Jack groan in response.

“Are you still going on about that?” Jack retorted. Blake turned around and looked up at Jack.

“Hear me out first. It might sound confusing but just listen. After all you’ll have more worth as an ally if I don’t keep things from you. As I said before I’m not Aaron, I’m Blake. I’m not from this world.”

Blake went ahead and told Jack about everything that had happened to him. How he had died but gotten a second chance at life. How he found out that Aaron existed. Jack didn’t quite believe Blake at first but he assured Jack that he had no reason to make any of this up. Before long they were on they were back to the wagon and on their way once more.

“So where did Aaron go off to then?” Jack asked. Blake shrugs his shoulders.

“I have no idea. He just vanished when he found out the truth about you killing his parents.” Blake responded.

“It must have been a big blow to his pride.” Blake nodded in agreement. Before long Blake finally started getting drowsy so he hopped into the back where he had been laying before. As he started to drift into sleep he had a thought.

“Did the goblins show up by coincidence just in time for Jack to tag along or…..?”