Chapter 3: Jack; Vagril 6th, 343SR; 04:30

Jack walked through a dark cave aimlessly, his lantern lit nothing but the floor around him as the darkness stretched, but something about the darkness didn't seem right.

'Put it out', Jack heard a whisper from the darkness ahead of him.

The whisper made him nervous, his heartbeat quickened, he blew out the lantern, and darkness filled the area around him. Whether or not he closed his eyes or opened them he saw nothing but darkness, but it cleared as he began to notice lights in the sky all around him, everything became clear and he looked forward and saw a giant rectangular silhouette.

He walked forward toward the silhouette, as he got close he noticed a lumpy pillar in front of him, a white fabric seemed to glow in the darkness behind the pillar. Jack continued forward, he stopped as he noticed something on the ground the pillar grew out of. 'Huh? What is-' Jack froze, he was looking at the muscular leg of something giant. Jack looked up, the figure of the giant slowly became clear as his sight adjusted. He sat on a giant throne, his body dark and obscured, all Jack could see was the white hood and mantle he wore.

Jack looked at the face and his entire body shivered, he felt nauseated, his stomach turned and he almost threw up. He couldn't see the face, however the feeling of dread that the giant had been watching him.

Jack's heart started to beat faster, turned to run but noticed a sword with its entire blade stuck in the ground, and only its handle protruding outwards out of the ground. A golden hilt, with a black handle that glowed red, a gem also glowed a brighter red at the top of the large handle. Jack knew the blade belonged to the man who slept in the chair, he assumed so based on their sizes. Jack reached for the red orb, he felt like something about it was what he wanted, what he needed, but everything suddenly became dark before he could reach it.

***

"Jack!" Carol yelled.

Jack's eyes opened quickly, he lifted his head groggily and squinted at the lamp that illuminated the dark and dusty room, he let out an audible yawn before he closed his eyes, his head fell back down on his arms.

"Stop sleeping!" Carol yelled and Jack opened his eyes once more.

He reached for his eyes and rubbed them.

"Give me a break, we worked all day. I can't just stay up and not sleep," Jack responded.

"Well the sooner we get the mines closed the sooner we get more time to sleep," Carol reminded him.

"Give me a second," he replied.

He stood up and reached for a bottle full of a green powder and held the smooth glassware firmly. 'What was that dream, that... thing... was at least 8 feet tall... but it was still sitting...'

He stood up and walked to the other end of the dusty room towards a table cluttered with junk where Carol stood. She poured a clear solution into a glass cup.

"Jack remember to close the tank properly," she added as Jack approached.

Jack poured the fine powder into a glass sphere that had a small opening on the top, the powdered logorite piled up at the bottom of the glass. The powder filled half of the jar and Jack stopped. He reached for a metal canister, with a pipe that extended out of the bottom of it, a knob protruded out of that extended section of the pipe, it acted as a sealing mechanism. Jack turned and crouched down next to a bucket of water under the table, he lifted a cup of water out and poured it into a small hole on top of the tank, water dripped through and splashed back into the bucket 'That dream, it was so vivid...' Jack continued to think about it as he twisted the knob with a bit of force to stop the tank from leaking.

"It's closed properly." Jack assured.

He stood back up and handed it to Carol who poured the clear liquid into the tank on the opposite side of the pipe protruding out of it. After the last drop of liquid splashed into the tank, she screwed a metal cap onto the hole sealing it, then took the entire tank and inserted the pipe extension into the glass sphere that Jack filled earlier and screwed it in tightly.

"I'm gonna love seeing these explode in Alexander's stupid face!" Carol said in a menacing tone.

She lifted the contraption up with both hands and walked to the corner of the room where five more of the same device was placed, four of the five filled with powdered logorite. Jack picked up the extra device, it wasn't too heavy, he held it with one hand and placed it in the corner of the room.

"Hopefully it works," Jack said nervously.

"It definitely will, he can't be invincible," she assured him.

Jack looked down, dread clouded over him.

"He has a gift from the Celestial, and probably one of the strongest ones at that. He's been through thousands of battles, hundreds of those with demons... I'd at least prefer to do this in a way where he doesn't know it's us," Jack felt an emptiness in his stomach, he wasn't hungry, but incredibly anxious.

They took off their robes since they had no more logorite.

"By the way, how are we gonna transport this?" Jack asked.

Carol looked down at the four bombs they had made during the night.

"Well, we can't be seen by the other villagers... they might snitch. And we only have one bag to conceal it-"

"Why would the villagers snitch?" Jack suddenly asked curiously.

Carol looked at Jack, before she looked down and to the right, as if she was too nervous to bring something up.

"I mean we are doing most of the miners in the town a favor, and we could allocate more people to other work... so?" Jack tried to explain.

"That's not it," Carol denied. "The villagers told the angels it was your parents who closed the mines... that's why the villagers can't see us doing this."

Jack froze.

"They... they were trying to help. Why would they..." Jack stopped as he recalled getting attacked for no reason outside of his house. "Do people hate my mother and father?" Jack asked.

Carol picked up one of the devices and carefully lowered it on top of the empty bag, before she lifted up the sides around the device and carried the bag on her shoulder.

"Yeah... anyone who rejects the Celestial doesn't just get punished, everyone gets punished. That's why closing the mines isn't enough, if we kill a noble though... Well I bet even the villagers would fear us if we did that but that isn't the point, the angels will be too caught up to punish anyone. Plus he has it coming!" she explained.

The seeds of resentment in Jack began to grow.

"Alright, let's go before sunrise," Carol ordered as she walked towards the exit with the device in her bag.

Jack followed her up the steps and out of the basement. Midway up the stairs he heard thunder roar in the distance, the sound of droplets beat on the roof. Jack opened up the door and was met with the entrance to the house on his left, on his right a larger section used as the living space and kitchen, a door in the corner led to the bedroom. The house looked almost identical to his own, save for the pictures on the wall of a boy and a girl. They were both young in the picture, the girl with short and messy hair was easily recognizable, the young boy she held up in her hands was not.

"You have a brother?" Jack asked, but she didn't seem to hear his question.

"Give me a second, I'll go get us coats since it's raining," Carol quickly disappeared into the bedroom.

Jack opened the front door and stepped outside, the cold air rubbed his skin as an earthy scent filled his nose. He expected to see the vibrant colored sky from his dream however he was met with the pitch black night sky, with the edges of dark grey clouds being illuminated by the moonlight. The rain splashed into puddles, the droplets crashed against the ground rapidly, Jack's feet pressed deep into the wet mud as he walked out of Carol's house, all of the lanterns from earlier had gone out.

A thunderous roar cracked through the sky, it lit up the outline of the mountain just outside of town, Jack looked up at it as he felt the hair on his skin rise. 'We can take down a noble. We can do it,' he assured himself. Jack looked upwards to the sky, the rain dripped off the side of his face, he heard the sound of a door close as Carol walked through the mud, she made audible squelches with each step.

"I thought I said wait," Carol handed the extra coat to Jack.

The coat was light, but the material felt thick. He put his hands through the thick brown coat made of wool, his arms we're too short to reach out of the sleeves.

"Sorry... I didn't have a smaller coat around," Carol said.

Jack buttoned up the coat, it reached past his waist and almost covered his knees. He felt like he had put on a suit of armor considering how big the coat was for him.

"We don't have much time, the sun will be up soon," Carol started down the curved path, Jack followed behind her.

In the distance the light from the top of the Necropolis burned a bright green, Carol and Jack looked at it in the distance as they walked. Jack could never form words to describe Necropolis, it was unlike anything he'd ever seen. A floating island high in the sky, with a black tower protruding out of it, a green flame burned vibrantly for everyone in the distance to see.

"Jack do you think it's true? The curse of the non-unified?" Carol asked curiously.

"Huh? Well I've never really wondered if it was true or not, we were always told that we were all cursed because a non-unified cannot receive a gift from the celestial." Jack replied.

"The angels say this or that is right, and claim to be righteous all the while, even though they treat us horribly..."

For several more minutes Jack and Carol walked through the outer edge of the town.

"Well, trying to ask them immediately means neglecting the divinity of the celestial, then they won't listen to us, and if we try we are just beaten or worse, martyred," said Jack. "I wonder how that flame never goes out?" Jack mentioned.

Carol looked at it and scratched her head.

"Necropolis? Keep this a secret, I heard this from your mother, who heard this from my father whose grandfather lived during the great war," Carol recalled.

"That's a long line for a story to be told down?" Jack told her with a blank stare.

She turned around excitedly as the two of them reached the fields between Logos and the mountains.

"The hybrids, angels, and the demons battled three lords for freedom of the continent, I don't know if we betrayed them but we were exiled from the hybrids. The three lords were defeated and fell into hiding, but... it's rumored Necropolis is still lit today because one of the lords still lives." Carol explained.

Jack felt his heart beat faster, 'Huh, why am I nervous?'

"The three lost lords... I doubt they're alive, but if Necropolis up there belongs to one of them, who knows what the other two have!" Carol rambled.

Jack noticed Carol stretch her hands outwards into the air as she rambled.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

"Oh, sorry haha! I get excited thinking about these mysterious relics all over the world, I mean they could be anywhere with hundreds of treasures in them," Carol explained with a bright smile across her face.

"I'm amazed you can feel excited about all of this, I just feel nervous," Jack admitted.

"Don't be stupid," Carol laughed as she turned to Jack.

"Being nervous and being excited are the same thing," Carol told Jack.

He looked down as his hands shook the lantern, his bones felt like they were ready to burst out of his skin 'I'm excited?' Jack couldn't admit it, even if this was all fantastical nonsense, he was having fun just talking to her. Most of the time slaves didn't talk with one another out of fear of being punished for it.

The two of them approached the tall trees of the forest, Jack contemplated something to add to the conversation, he had difficulty thinking of anything. As Carol walked into the forest her lamp lit up the tall brown trees around them.

"I had a weird dream," Jack brought up.

Carol looked at Jack with a confused expression.

"I was in some cave... or I thought it was a cave. And then a voice told me to turn off my lantern, so I did, and when I did the sky lit up with a thousand colors with white dots in the sky shining bright enough to be seen, for miles!" Jack explained.

"Wow, I can barely remember my dreams," Carol replied.

"That's when I saw a guy in a chair, he was huge, with a huge sword too, and he wore a white cape but even though it was dark, he was even darker, his skin was pitch black-" Jack was cut off as Carol bursted into cheerful laughter.

"H-Hey, stop laughing!" Jack stuttered.

"I'm just kind of happy. Most people barely talk to me," Carol laughed.

Jack thought back to all the times he called her an idiot and made fun of her behind her back, he felt slightly sick to his stomach at the thought of himself.

"Hey Carol, do you have a brother?" Jack asked.

"A brother? Nope.. why do you ask?" Carol replied as she continued to walk in front.

'Huh?' Jack stopped in thought for a moment, before he continued forward.

"I saw a pict-"

"We're almost there. I can see the rock wall," Carol pointed past the trees.

She didn't address what Jack asked, only continued through the forest. 'That's... weird? ' Jack scratched his head.

Eventually they reached the entrance to the mines, the mountain full of logorite. Carol entered the mines and Jack followed, after getting a few meters from the entrance Carol set the bag down and put the device next to the wall.

"Okay, just give me a countdown when your gonn-" Jack stopped talking as he saw Carol immediately turn the knob.

"Oh... my bad. Anyways, clocks ticking, lets run!" Carol advised as she ran out of the cave.

'Oh shit,' Jack panic'd as he turned and ran towards the exit, he noticed a bright green light from behind him illuminate the walls in front of him. Jack dived outside the entrance, and ran behind a tree, he peeked his head out immediately to see the bright green light that glowed from inside the mines. 'Nothing's exploding?'

"Carol nothing exploded!" Jack yelled.

Carol came out from behind a bush.

"Give it a second or two," said Carol.

After several minutes nothing happened. The two of them came out of the spots they hid in and walked towards the entrance of the mines, a green light continued to grow from where they placed the bomb.

"Well, that sucks," Jack uttered as he looked towards Carol.

Carol watched the entrance of the cave eagerly.

"Just give it a couple more seconds," her voice cracked slightly.

After a few minutes nothing had happened, Carol fell to her knees.

"I guess I am just an idiot... I can't even follow simple instructions," she lamented.

"Hold on... don't be sad," Jack said.

Carol looked up at him, her eyes blank with disappointment.

"We can always try again, or screw killing the angels, let's just leave... I'm sure we can survive on our own without the angels, screw this place!" Jack tried to lift her spirits.

A single tear fell out of her eye, she sniffled as she got up.

"We'll be killed within a week," Carol denied the option.

"Nothing will change... The nobles will hunt us to the ends of Grelt," she added as she wiped the tears off her face.

"Then we better get a head start," Jack stated as he looked up into the sky and saw the white moon. "The clouds cleared up," Jack mentioned, pointing up into the sky.

"You're a good person Jack," Carol told him.

Jack turned around and saw Carol smile as she wiped her eyes.

"Most people would just call me an idiot if I asked them to help, but you came along, and even though it didn't work you still haven't called me an idiot," Carol admired.

Jack felt sick to his stomach again.

"I'm not." he replied.

"I called you an idiot behind your back, I'm just like most people," Jack admitted.

Carol didn't reply, she stared up at the moon for a moment. Jack looked down as he expected her to be upset.

"Well, if you can say that about yourself, I think you're wrong," Carol chuckled.

She looked up towards the sky, she wiped the tears off her face from earlier, Jack felt embarrassed.

"I hate how optimistic you are," Jack teased.

Carol suddenly laughed out loud joyously, Jack felt a smile spread on his face as he started laughing too, 'Friends...'Jack thought to himself as the two of them laughed, oblivious to the light growing in intensity from the cave behind them. After a short pause, Carol opened her eyes and looked up, her smile faded as she pointed up into the sky.

"Hey Jack... what is that?" she said.

Carol pointed upwards to three lights gliding in the sky, two white lights with a third red light above them moved together in the sky, growing in size as they approached the ground. Jack squinted at it while he tried to make out what the object was in the night sky, as the lights grew brighter Jack noticed a black silhouette behind it.

"Jack it's coming this way!" Carol panic'd.

Jack continued trying to make out what the object was.

"We should get out of-" Jack was cut off as a loud explosion erupted from behind them, he felt his feet lift off the ground.

The trees in front of him lit up a bright green, an explosion from the cave cracked through the air, they couldn't register the source of the sound as the force from the explosion threw them forward several meters. Jack's body spun in the air before he hit the ground and rolled onto his front, he looked up to see the entrance of the cave as smoke spilled out of it, his ears rang from the explosion. Carol struggled to her feet quickly. She looked at Jack then turned to the cave entrance, before she jumped up and down repeatedly and yelled something he couldn't hear. Jack rolled onto his back and looked into the sky where a cloud of smoke rose from within the cave entrance.

"Ack..." as the ringing stopped Jack began to hear Carol's voice.

"Jack... Jack it worked!" Carol yelled.

Jack pushed himself off the ground with his elbows and sat up, his shoulders and back ached from the impact, he glanced back up towards the lights from earlier and didn't expect to see that they'd approached much closer, a blue object soared high over Jacks head, two of the white lights from earlier came from the front of the object. It soared straight forward, the side of the blue object collided with the mountain and sent boulders backwards behind the mountain. An even louder crash rippled through the sky for miles in all directions, the strange object descended into the valley that led to Helios. Jack looked in the direction the object fell, he glanced towards Carol who was also dumbfounded by what just happened before both of them crouched down in fear as another crash echoed through the land.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked.

Carol continued to stare at the broken piece of the mountain.

"Hey Carol, it's probably better if we just head back to Logos," Jack advised as he shook Carol's shoulder.

"What if this is our gift," Carol asked.

She didn't turn her head to Jack, she just stared at the part of the mountain the object crashed through.

"But it's not possible for a non-unified to get a gift, we're cursed?" Jack responded.

Carol looked down to think about it, before she sprinted off and followed the side of the mountain towards where the flying object crashed.

"Carol wait!" Jack called as he hurried after her.

She turned and put a finger over her mouth.

"We can't be loud... were technically leaving Logos. If an angel spots us we're dead," Carol told Jack.

"Yeah... so let's not leave Logos for that reason?" he whispered.

"Are you not curious about that? And wasn't it you who just said we should leave?" Carol asked as she continued to walk away.

"Well.. I... ugh," he stuttered as his body shook in fear.

"Then head back, I'll tell you how it goes," she said.

'Damnit, no no no, Jack just let her do something stupid...' Jack turned and started to walk back to Logos, 'Why am I scared...', he thought as he continued walking. He stopped as he considered Carol's words.

"What if this is our gift," he immediately turned and followed after Carol.

Jack ran through the forest with his lantern in hand, he followed the rock wall for several minutes. He arrived at a clearing in the forest, the path continued along the side of the mountain. He looked ahead and saw light from a lantern entering the forest outside of Helios, Jack panted heavily, he walked along the path while he caught his breath. He glanced over to the right and was met with a scenery he wasn't familiar with.

"Woah," Jack uttered.

Jack saw multiple mountains in the distance at the other side of a large body of water, he could see the lights in Ulkay at the bottom of the valley in front of the water. He turned and looked at the mountain behind him, from where he stood it appeared massive, but it was nothing in comparison to the mountains on the continent of Hiria.

"That must be Andurill," Jack said to himself.

The large mountain was surrounded by smaller mountains, while slaves never got to leave the continent of Kamino, the majestic sights outside of it were a topic of endless discussion in Logos. Jack realized he'd been standing for over a minute and continued along the path.

There were massive pieces of the mountain scattered around, several trees around had fallen and broken down. As he ran through the scenery of broken and unbroken trees, he eventually came upon a large boulder which had been knocked off of the mountain above. The smell of burned wood filled Jack's nose, 'Is something on fire?' he thought as he ran around the boulder. He noticed a pair of footsteps in the mud, 'Carol went this way too,' he hurried around the boulder.

His stomach sank at the sight of the giant trees which were knocked down by the object, every tree in front of Jack had been ripped out of the ground or broken, chips of wood, sticks, and chunks were scattered all over the place. Jack walked carefully through the destruction to avoid tripping on anything, eventually seeing Carol in the distance, who was standing in front of the blue object. As Jack got close to it he noticed it was covered in mud, Carol reached forward to touch it.

"Wait don't touch it!" Jack warned.

She dragged her fingers on the surface, and wiped some of the mud off and revealed more of the blue hull. Jack was hesitant, he reached forward and did the same, he placed his hand on the blue hull, it was warm, smooth, and wet. Jack dragged his hand along it, the smoothness of the surface amazed him before he wiped some mud off which revealed a white letter "D".

"Hey Carol, there's a letter here," Jack noticed.

Carol walked over as Jack wiped off more of the mud seeing part of a new letter right after the D, he wiped the wet mud off the ship until he could see the entire text: '#78-MC Imperial Dragoon'.

"Imperial Dragoon? It's written in our language, could this have come from Grelt?" Jack pondered as he walked around the large object.

"I don't think so... this has to be a gift... I've never seen anything like it before." Carol wondered as she walked around the opposite way.

"Hey Jack, come look at this!" Carol called.

Jack ran around the crash site to the front where Carol was crouched in front of a bright light.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Jack asked as Carol squinted at the bright light.

"No, it doesn't hurt, it's not even hot either but it's brighter than any other fire I've seen," said Carol.

Jack put his hand on the light, 'It really isn't hot, but how could it make this much light without a fire?' Jack pondered.

He walked around the object some more to analyze it. As Jack walked around the back of the object, he noticed a red sphere that stuck out of a panel on the object, the orb reminded him of the one from his dream. But upon closer inspection it appeared to be similar to a door knob, he pulled it down, the object started to release steam. A mechanical sound shifted as the mouth of the object opened, it was a sound Jack had never heard before. He ran off behind a tree as he observed the back of the ship open up.

"Jack? What was that?" Carol called as she stuck her head out from the front of the object.

She came around towards the opening, she peaked inside before she suddenly froze.

"Carol, wait that might be its mouth!" Jack cried.

Carol just stuck her head into the dark opening and walked through. Jack sat nervously while he watched the opening as he waited for Carol to come out.

"Jack come here! Quickly!" Carol called, she sounded scared.

Jack poked his head out, and approached the opening of the object, he kept his distance and walked around to get a better angle of the inside. There we're strange tools hanging from the walls, Jack didn't recognize anything he was looking at.

He saw Carol inside with her back facing him, as he approached he began to notice what Carol was looking at, Jack walked up and noticed a door in front of Carol, he peaked his head past her and looked inside and his expression turned to immediate shock.

There was a large man unconscious in the small hallway, he had black hair and he had to have been at least seven feet tall, his entire body was shaped by muscles but he was lean, all he wore was tattered black pants. Blood splattered the walls, however the stains had dark purple crystals that grew out of them, each lit a bright purple from the inside, Jack couldn't take his eyes off of them.

"I told you this was the mouth!" Jack said.

She walked forward and put her hand over the wound in his stomach.

"The bloods dry... but these wounds... he's been burned, cut, and stabbed all over... this is bad." Carol commented before she placed her finger on his neck.

"Wait... he's breathing! This guy's still alive... how!?" Carol pondered.

A silence filled the air as Jack tried to process that, before he looked down towards the crystals formed from his blood. He reached down and tried to pick it up, but it was stuck to the ground, with a bit of force he plucked the crystal off.

"What is this stuff?" Jack whispered as he analyzed the purple gem.

It had a bit of weight to it, it was incredibly dense, and the purple light within it was hard to take his eyes off. Jack reached down and filled his pockets with the crystals riddled around the hall.

"Hey, wake up! Hey!" Carol shouted as she turned to Jack who collected the crystals all the while. "Jack what the hell? Give me a hand this guy needs help!"

She lifted the man's arm over her shoulder, Jack quickly stopped and rushed to the other side of the man and lifted his other shoulder.

"Urgh!" Jack struggled.

The man was just as heavy as he looked, they took small steps and eventually got him outside of the ship, Jack looked up and noticed the sky was turning a brighter blue as the morning came.

"Where are we even gonna take him? The only one who might be able to fix him are the angels." Jack asked.

"Yeah... but. You know how gifts can either be a tool, a power, or a spirit?" Carol replied.

Jack stopped and looked at her blankly. "No," he immediately denied what she may have been implying.

"Oh come on Jack, he literally came from the sky! He really could be our gift!" Carol argued.

"I mean he might have a gift himself if his blood is turning into crystals," Jack replied.

They dragged the unconscious man to the edge of the crash site, and slowly carried him through the forest.

"I just think, maybe we shouldn't give him to the angels. I mean, doesn't this seem really weird to you?" Carol asked.

"What about this isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me?" Jack replied.

"I don't think angels bleed crystals, I've never seen a demon before but do you think he might be one?" Carol pondered.

"Anyways let's just get him back to Logos. We have to get back before morning, no one can see him or else they might inform the angels," Carol added.

They continued to drag the man through the woods, before they reached the entrance of the mines they'd blown up earlier. The entrance was filled with rubble.

"Well, the bomb was a success," Carol pointed out.

"Yeah, little- victories!" Jack breathed heavily as the weight of the mysterious man made his arms sore.

They continued through the forest until they reached the fields that surrounded Logos. Carol and Jack let go of the man and he dropped flat onto his face, as the two fell backwards and breathed heavily after they had carried him so far.

"By the way do you still have some of those crystals?" Carol asked Jack.

"Yeah, why," Jack stood back up, he pulled one of the crystals out of his pocket.

"It looks cool, i'm just wondering why it grew from that guys blood."

"Yeah, that's really weird..."

Jack tossed the stone up and down in his hand, he suddenly threw the stone up into the air. He walked forwards to catch the stone, but he wasn't going to make it. As the crystal hit the ground it shattered and created a massive purple explosion which roared even louder than the crash earlier.

Jack shielded his face from the bright purple light, a force from the initial explosion forced him and all the crops away, the explosive force hit him before any of the fire could and sent him tumbling past Carol and into a tree. Jack's back hit the tree hard, he fell forward and hit the grass, his back was numb and he struggled to breath. A purple fire remained where the explosion happened, Jack's ears rang, he was just barely out of range of a major injury or burn. He saw two people who both looked like Carol approach him, before he realized his vision was seeing doubles.

"Jack are you okay!" Carol called.

"No..." Jack muttered quietly.

Jack coughed and rolled onto his front, he pushed himself off the ground with his hands, and struggled to his feet.

"That explosion was way bigger and faster than the one at the cave! Screw the bomb! Let's use this on Alexander!" Carol said excitedly.

"Yeah- little victories..." Jack struggled to speak.

Jack just looked up at her with an exhausted expression 'I shouldn't have even bothered throwing it', his coat and shirt were drenched in sweat, rain, and mud. Jack looked back towards the fire, before noticing several orange lights approaching from the town. The lights came from the lanterns of multiple slaves who had woken up earlier due to the explosion.

"Oh no... Carol the townsfolk heard us," said Jack.

Jack pointed towards Logos, where a crowd of people approached the purple fire which burned the wheat crops.

"We need to get him back into the woods, or else they'll see us!" Carol warned.

Jack got to his feet and quickly rushed to the unconscious man, and pulled his arm over his neck and lifted him upwards with all of his strength, as little as there was. He tried to lift him up but his leg couldn't muster any more strength, it felt like someone was pushing down on his knees. Carol took the first step and Jack struggled to keep pace.

"We'll go around- where should we take him?" Carol asked while breathing heavily.

"If we go around- we can probably put him in the cellar- of my house," Jack stuttered as the two of them struggled to carry the heavy man.

***

After they were safe from the civilians' sight, Jack and Carol dragged the body through the field of crops out of sight, they carried him until they reached the east entrance of Logos undetected as the civilians gathered where the explosion happened in the north of Logos. The two of them dropped to their knees out of exhaustion as they got to Jack's house.

The grass brightened as the sun rose over the horizon, they arrived outside the house, Jack could barely believe they'd made it that far without being seen. Jack opened the cellar, he looked inside but saw nothing but the dark interior. He leaned against the side of his house as he felt his sweat drip down his face, his drenched clothing stuck to his skin uncomfortably and his throat felt harsh as he breathed heavily.

"Alright almost there, I got his shoulders, you get his legs," Carol instructed.

Carol took a deep breath and lifted the man up from the arms, Jack got his legs. The muscles in his arms screamed from the tearing pain, but the load felt a bit lighter as Carol lifted as well, however her face indicated she struggled as well. She took a step back into the cellar, Jack followed her pace, and eventually they got him in and sat him upright on the floor against the wall at the back of the cellar.

Jack shut the cellar door and took a seat on the stairs to catch his breath. His sweat made the coat he wore significantly hotter, Jack pulled it off and immediately felt relieved as he cooled down. Carol continued to analyze the mysterious man's body.

"Jack, did his wounds look like that before?" Carol asked.

"What?", Jack stood up and approached the body.

The mysterious man sat against the wall with his head down. While his wound appeared to be dry earlier, the veins around the wound glowed purple. Carol moved his long black hair out of the way to reveal his face. However it was covered in blood.

"Get rid of all the dried blood on his face and I think he'd be pretty handsome," Carol commented as she analyzed him.

"Well he has explosive crystals coming out of his blood, he came from the sky, and he heals abnormally... Hopefully he's not an angel, or else I'm the first to die when he wakes up," Jack said.

He walked closer to the man and analyzed his wounds, he focused on an especially bad wound in the man's abdomen, the purple glowing veins we're only around the wound in his stomach.

"This is hard to look at," Jack felt his own stomach tingle when he saw the wound.

The wound was deep, his skin was littered with bruises and stained with blood.

"It looks like someone stabbed him... in the same spot... multiple times... whoever did this really hated this guy," Jack added.

There had been several distinct holes in his abdomen one of which he could see the right through. Jack put his hand over the man's chest and felt a slow pulse.

"Yet somehow... he's still breathing... no one should be able to survive this," Jack pointed out.

Jack and Carol's head shot up as they heard someone knock on the front door once, and after a short delay another knock followed, and it repeated once more with a loud knock.

Carol immediately stood, Jacks gulp echoed across the silence, his heart sank.

"Open the door, or we will force it down scum, come on open the door will you." A deep voice filled with intent called from outside Jack's house.

"That's..." Jack whispered as his heart began to beat rapidly. "Carol, Carol what do we do... that's..." Jack turned to her and the expression he saw was filled with fear, as was his own. "That's.... Alexander Rael!" Jack whispered in fear.