Jackson was under a spot light. A little spot light had been pointed at him from above to make sure on one missed him, magic crystals were used to flash his face across the city as the reality set in. Gypsy sober up and started to march towards the steps with a twisted face. Barbara and Angela were right behind her. Jackson’s mind started to click what had just happened. His danger sense spiked as everyone started to move closer. They all wanted to kill him. They all wanted his head on a spike.

“One hour.”

“You little bitch. I swear I’m going to make you pay for this!”

Jackson yelled at Luna before sprinting away. He broke through the crowd who all avoided him in fear of being disqualified. Jackson didn’t notice the shriek from Ms. Jinx as she learned her student was alive. He didn’t notice his cousin’s shocked faces as they puzzled together his identity. He failed to notice the girl above the party watching him with pitiful eyes before glaring at the princess.

While Jackson fled, Gypsy reached the stairs. Joseph intercepted her with the prince.

“Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down hero boy! You little bitch! How dare you drag Jackson into your little game! Hasn’t he been through enough without you toying with him?! He doesn’t even know you!”

“You’re wrong, we do know each other. We met a few hours ago. I’d admit, I’d never seen anyone as strong as him. Which is precisely why I chose him.”

“Dear, maybe you should have picked another.”

The queen tried to interject, looking more like a ghoul then a noble.

“I get it.”

Gypsy snapped at the princess before turning on her heels. Luna just smiled at her own ingenious plan. She knew Jackson would never agree to marry her, even if he won. She knew he disliked her from earlier. Not to mention he was strong. It would take a monster to take him out, and if he loses too easily, she could claim that Jackson was still her champion. Only through a fair fight could the title be passed on. Only through a real victory. It was almost the perfect plan, so long as Jackson didn’t get knocked out by anyone.

Angela was still heated, but watching Gypsy back down was unnerving. They knew Jackson well enough to know he didn’t care about this spoiled princess. There was no chance he’d marry her. Which was obviously the point. The princess was throwing a monkey wrench in her mother’s plans. And Jackson was her poor victim. In any case, they’d need to think of a way to help Jackson and that meant catching up to him.

“So, if I defeat that little boy, I can have the cat girl?”

“Yes, but my guess is it won’t be that easy. I don’t think we should get involved.”

“But I want that cat girl, help me win her.”

Angela felt her heart sink slightly while over hearing a conversation from the Demon Heroes. She’d been briefly introduced to them earlier, a slender beauty with black hair and purple eyes by the name of Annabelle. Her partner was Charles, and both gave Angela the chills. Neither one were people she wanted anywhere near Jackson.

“You’re such a hand full, but if it makes you happy…”

Angela wanted to tell him to grow a spine but thought better of it. Making matters worse, she could already see Jackson’s cousins sneaking out of the party, probably to get their gear. They were republic heroes now and were boasting about their adventure and strength at the start of the party. Several of the kingdom heroes, those not completely shocked were beginning to slip away as well with greed in their eyes. This was bad.

Angela raced to catch up to Gypsy who was collecting Barbara.

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, yet. Firstly, we need to get Barbara out of here.”

“Why? Shouldn’t we focus on finding Jackson?”

“Barb doesn’t do well in large scales battles; she tends to lose control and might cause an incident that could start the war. Trust me, we don’t want to risk her losing control. Once she’s safe-ish, we can focus on finding Jackson and hiding him in the city somewhere.”

“And how are we going to find him?”

“Probably by following the explosions.”

“That makes sense.”

Joseph might have looked calm, but inside he was in turmoil. He still felt partly responsible for Jackson and knew better than most the injuries that Jackson was hiding from everyone. He doubted Jackson could last long against a large-scale assault for twenty-four hours. He wondered what the princess was thinking.

“Joseph, was that really him?”

Ms. Jinx ran over to him before Joseph could react to the circumstances.

“Yes ma’am, he’s alive. I wanted to tell you, but there wasn’t a good moment. I apologize.”

“I understand, but where has he been? Who was that girl? Why is the princess doing this to him?”

“It complicated. We’ll talk after we find and help him. As for why the princess is doing this, I have no idea. This all feels so silly. I’ll grab Alice and Carley, along with Lili. I don’t know who else we can trust.”

The answer came sooner then expected when Franklin rushed over to him.

“You going to help Jackson?”

Joseph nodded, giving him a suspicious glance.

“What? You think after what happened with Kevin, I’d do something to hurt the guy more? Jackson might be a creep, but he’s ultimately a good dude.”

“What happened with Kevin?”

“I’ll explain later Ma’am, thanks Frank.”

Jackson took a deep breath as he stopped sprinting under a bridge. He had a little under forty-five minutes to find a hiding spot. A massive clock was displayed all over the town and hopefuls were already lining up. Some jumped the gun and were now lying in the streets with minor burns. Twenty-four hours Jackson thought as he took a moment to rest.

“What am I going to do?”

While Jackson contemplated his options, another watched the clock with great interest. He marked a time, roughly just after sunset, with a single word: cut.

All the players were moving, searching or arming up. Everyone was on edge, jumping at shadows and waiting for the moment to strike. Angela and Gypsy got to the wagon and told Barbara to wait there. Barbara still didn’t understand what was happening. She didn’t understand why Angela and Gypsy were so angry. She didn’t understand why Jackson sprinted away. The massive clock scared her slightly and the voice of death was louder than normal. It wasn’t happy about that third one.

Gypsy took a deep breath, watching the clock get ever closer to midnight. They had maybe thirty to find Jackson. She was thinking up a plan, wondering if she could keep an illusion on him for several hours. Maybe they could sneak him out of the town, assuming the princess didn’t spoil that plan by some weird means. She’d make that little Luna pay if it was the last thing she did.

The girl in armor took out the golden sword and began to give it a quick sharpen as she watched the clock tick down.

“Okay father, where are you?”

She said as she prepared herself mentally for what she’d need to do. Catherine sheaved her golden sword. She remembered back to the old stories she was told as a child and began to make her move.

Jackson had stolen some fruit and was quickly eating it as he moved from shadow to shadow. He cast an illusion on himself and hoped it would fool his pursuers. He wasn’t good at illusions, as the only word he could think of was ‘Disguise’ which simply made him harder to recognize. He gulped as he watched the last five minutes tick down. Each second felt like he was approached his death. Apart of him simply wanted to stop the clocks, to somehow stop time. But time would not stop, not for him and midnight struck. With a loud bell, the game began.