by Harlon Banks
...
Screw it, Jonath had nothing to lose at this point with asking.
"Do you know what the The Challenger is?" Jonath turned to look at Wren with serious pale eyes. The Group Master actually turning his gaze away from the book finally to stare at the amnesic in quiet yet subtle surprise. Jonath lowering his hands from the chest now and turning to walk back to the table, now or never to ask he guessed. "Or the Irelight? Either one would be good to know about or maybe even both if you could answer it; you seem like my best chance to know about both." He paused stopping a few feet away from the table arms crossed over his chest. Brown eyes met pale, Wren staring for the longest... intensely into Jonath's eyes as if he were seeing something he couldn't believe he never noticed before now.
Wren shifted his posture to better look at the amnesic.
"... You saw it, didn't you?" Wren's voice was low and almost an amazed whisper as he pulled himself away from the table and started to circle around the piece to approach Jonath with a wide heavy smile. "You saw the light... You saw the Irelight didn't you?" He asked again impatiently awaiting a yes from Jonath. The young man backing away a bit uncomfortable and put off by Wren's sudden shift in attitude. It felt as if Wren saw him as a science experiment the more and more he looked at him. Jonath had to be careful not to say too much about what he experienced that day; he didn't know how Wren would react.
"I didn't see anything, but I heard someone mention something about the Irelight being near after everything went dark. The guy I stay with texted me a warning about the bell ringing and a The Challenger but I got his text a few seconds too late; I blinked and everything went dark." He responded a bit hesitantly as he pulled his head away from the close old man. His eyes narrowed with uncomfortable gaze and his body language showing he was rather unnerved by the geezer being all up in his personal space. Wren snickered, backing up a bit as he replied in a raspy yet intrigued voice, crooked fingers pointed at the amnesic and gesturing as he spoke.
"I knew I sensed something odd about your energy when I evaluated you; you continue to amaze and astound me at every turn, Jonath. You were outside when the bell rang, weren't you? Were you alone when it happened?" He awaited an answer. Jonath slowly nodding as he relaxed a bit thanks to the space given back to him, hands moving back into his pockets. He initially would have lied and said someone was near him and that's how he found out the Irelight was a term, but if he lied about everything he'd never get the truth so he decided to only tell parts of his own truth. Wren interrogating more and more about his experience after every question was answered making it harder and harder to be vague.
"You were caught out in the The Challenger and didn't have anything happen to you? You also were by yourself yet heard someone mention the Irelight? How amazing... and yet how oddly curious." He paused awaiting an answer. Jonath nodded again... That smile across Wren's face growing wider and wider with every confirmation as he flexed a pale fingers towards the amnesic's face. His dull brown eyes showing more life than ever as he simply stared ecstatic at the young man...
Wren suddenly calmed himself, clearing his throat as he lowered his hand and chuckled walking back to his table. Jonath titling his head a bit confused with narrowed skeptical eyes, long spiky bangs of silver-white hair sweeping across his eyes and face. What was this old guy doing now?
"As much as I'd love to tell you everything I know about the answers you seek; I feel you are not ready to learn them just yet. You barely are aware of your own self yet so telling you an excessive amount would be destructive to your well-being. I as a responsible elder can not allow myself to influence the youth in a negative way. That and you still seem to be trying to deceive me with your responses." Wren shrugged lackadaisical. Jonath's reserved expression of confusion suddenly turned into a scowl of disbelief.
"Excuse me?" He scoffed. Wren returning to reading his book as the cube sat comfortably beside his right hand pressed against the dark wood.
"The The Challenger Thrainretically predates the Irelight in sequence. The bell you heard is old, it was here before the city itself and is made of an extremely rare metal that resonates when something suddenly upsets the balance in the air and rings to alert the citizens of Luminous City. This is called the The Challenger, as only a few minutes after the bell rings all light suddenly ceases to exist." He paused giving the boy time to process everything. Jonath staring at him speechless as he listened...
"Effects of the The Challenger on most people caught out in the darkness range from headaches and weakness to sudden death when washed over in the darkness born of origins even I do not understand yet; scholars believe this phenomena happens because of the eternal night that plagues this land. Nobody has ever reported hearing things or seeing things though... They all described the sensation as having all their senses stripped away. The fact that you are the first person ever to report having heard something is... Interesting to say the least. You heard, but you didn't see anything..." Wren paused, getting ahead of himself as he quieted back down. Unlucky for him Jonath didn't want him to shut up. The amnesic taking a step forward and pulling his hands out of his pockets in irritation.
"Well!? What does it mean!?" He said impatiently with a rising tone. "What is the Irelight? Cut out all that cryptic shit and tell me already old man!" He pleaded rather angrily with Wren who despite being the object of Jonath's frustration, never looked back up from his book and stayed perfectly calm. A few moments of silence, Jonath clenching his fists in growing anger and getting pissed off more and more by the second...
"I can not tell you what the Irelight is because I do not know it myself. The Irelight was a term coined as a conceptual answer for what predates the The Challenger by people who are no longer alive. It is not an actual definitive term because no one alive has ever actually seen it; we only know of it from books and legends left by the creators of the word and that ominous bell in the Diurnal District. Well... I do and a few others; the common public knows nothing about why that bell rings." He snorted scratching his chin and shooing Jonath away now as he grasped the cube in his right hand once again. Dull brown eyes focusing on the ruminations of glowing red etched across the black sphere contained within.
Jonath was at a loss for words...
"There are many holes in your existence that you wish to fill with answers, child." Wren sighed softly still staring at the treasure in his possession. "Do not rush to fill them all... Pour water too quickly into a glass and it will spill out and wet everything around it if not completely topple the glass from the force. Take your time and approach your goals one by one..." Wren turned to lock eyes with the amnesic. Jonath utterly quiet and staring right back at him with an expression lacking gaze. The air around them settling again as tensions seemed to cease once and for all, the young man relaxes and taking a deep breath.
"Your existence is a profound one; I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on you. You and that Yelkath are interesting, so interesting to me. I want to observe the development of you both and see just how you make a name for yourselves in this cursed city. You keep hiding things from me and expect me to tell you everything in return. That's not how this works, boy." Wren paused, rotating the cube around in his hands as heavy words seemed to humble the confused disposition within Jonath...
"For now, take the information I have given you and your reward and settle with that for now as I have accepted the fact you distrust me; when the time comes I'm sure you will have received your answers on your own and would have understood them far better than any skewered interpretation I could give you and maybe then we can come at each other openly." With that said Wren lowered the cube back to the table and returned to his reading, saying nothing more. Jonath stared at him for the longest couple of seconds he ever felt... then turned away to collect his reward. He hated to acknowledge Wren's words as they seemed more like the geezer was just playing off he didn't know anything about Jonath despite what he implies...
He had a point all the same
though; too much knowledge at one point is destructive, and if he felt uneasy about his own existence how could he trust anyone else's interpretation?.. Standing before the chest again Jonath popped it open and as he raised the lid he said one last thing before swiping the contents of the chest (a rather decent bag of currency, a black Phoenix feather and a rolled up slip of yellow paper he didn't bother to read yet) out and taking his leave. Stuffing the spoils in his pockets as he left.
"When you find out what you're going to do with that artifact, I'll be waiting. We aren't done." He said over the shoulder without looking back as the double doors shut behind him. Wren now all by his lonesome reading the black book and just standing there in blissful silence for almost a full minute...
Wren suddenly started chuckling rather ominously to himself, that sly smile betraying the humorous look in his eyes...
"Secrets are secrets for a reason child... I do not know why you seem to lack memories of who you are and what your powers are... But I do hope you don't go re-opening doors that were locked for a reason."
Relocated
A/N - Hello! Sorry about the delay on this chapter, had a lot to get done and it ate up my time to write. Have no fear though I'm (most likely) back on track for the typical weekly updates.
Regardless, here you are! Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading this far!
The Challenger Chapter Twenty-Five: Relocation
Jonath pushed open the door and stepped inside the apartment with an irritated look in his eyes and exasperation in his body language, what a confusing encounter. To think he'd ask questions only to have more questions arise in his head after talking to Wren; the man he could have sworn knew everything with the way he talked. Wren didn't know exactly what the Irelight was and if he didn't know, then the Codex Library beneath the Group probably had nothing on it either. That only left the Royal Library in the Diurnal District with any chance of giving Jonath a solid answer on what he'd seen and heard.
Might as well abandon the quest now, no way in hell he'd be able to get into that library... Especially since he were about to sent out the city anyway by Jeremy to some training facility for delinquent Nightborn.
Tragic.
"Jonath!" Jeremy called from his room behind the closed-door to the young man. The spiky platinum-haired amnesic blowing stray bangs away from his lips in annoyance accompanied by a heavy deadpan, he just wanted to go an entire day without being bothered. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so.
Jonath walked down the hall dragging his feet as he made his way to the door on the far left across from his own, pale eyes staring at the door momentarily with a blank expression. Did Jeremy want him to just walk in or... ?
Jonath decided to instead of using common sense and just opening the door, to be an ass and just stare at it till Jeremy gave him permission to come in.
"Open the door ya goof." Jeremy coughed sensing him behind the door. A huff, and Jonath grabbed the cold brass knob and twisted it pushing open the white wooden door and peering inside. His eyes settling on Jeremy standing at the foot of his king sized bed with a pile of clothes folded in front of him; the overhead fan spinning softly with the light illuminating the room and the radio on the dresser beside Jonath with the tv playing very light jazz at a low volume. Turning his old gaze over as he finished smoothing out a long-sleeved white shirt and cleared his throat.
"Should have let your ass stand there all night, damn." He sighed dryly while Jonath simply snickered and stepped in, blinking when Jeremy glanced across the bed at the chair.
"Have a seat, we should probably have a conversation to clear some things up. I want to make sure you understand why I'm doing this stuff." He gestured to the opposite side of the bed near a small desk with a lamp and a metal chair facing said bed. Jonath hesitated, wondering if he had done something to get himself in trouble and stared at Jeremy like a confused animal. Jeremy glancing back at him, taking in the look he were giving and simply snorted shaking his head and releasing a raspy exhale from his throat.
"You're not in trouble with me, you can relax. I want to talk to you about the place I'm sending you to." He gestured with his head again at the chair while he continued to fold his laundry. Jonath stayed in the doorway for a few seconds, then stepped over to the chair and sat down hands resting on his thighs. His posture lax and laid back as he yawned momentarily, he was still a bit tired from that contract.
"I've given it some thought, and because I figure I like ya enough I've come to a pretty decent middle ground I think you'd be happy to hear." Jeremy chuckled not looking away from his folding, Jonath blinking a bit surprised. He found a middle ground? Brow furrowing as he cleared his throat fighting another drawn out yawn; his expression quickly creased into a thin smirk of amusement.
"What, you love me too much to send me away? I'm flattered." He sneered jokingly. Jeremy paused and briefly looked up to stare incredulously at him in silence, causing both to eventually break out into light-hearted laughter. At the very least, Jonath couldn't say he didn't like Jeremy as a person; he was actually pretty glad he met the old man over anything... even if he was a bit strict and intimidating at times with threatening to kick him out.
"I don't know about love now but I will admit I like having you around to talk to every now and again." Jeremy's response actually kind of surprised Jonath, although Jonath didn't make it noticeable. "I live by myself and I don't have any kids or family left alive so it's refreshing to have a brat around to boss about and listen to me nag haha." Jeremy paused again finishing his folding and now assigning piles of colored and white clothing as he looked between the assortments. Jonath wanted to ask about his family now but refrained from doing so, now didn't seem the time to pry.
"Because you've been doing good so far how's about this... I send you off to that place I talked about so you can learn a bit about your powers safely, but I pay for an express card so that you can come back to the city from time to time. It'll only be for weekends but you could come sleep in your own bed still and I get to still annoy ya; I know you probably eye rolled when I called your name earlier huh?" He snickered, Jonath quietly sneering embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head and lowered his gaze. The old man was more perceptive than he gave credit for, regardless this actually sounded pretty good all things considered.
"I'd like that, yeah." The amnesic adjusted himself in the metal chair so his arms were crossed over his lap and his body leaned forward with gaze on Jeremy folding. "You aren't too bad yourself, and I do appreciate you helping me out in that forest a lot. Glad you didn't think I was some murderer or runaway slave." He chuckled lightly. Jeremy finishing his sorting of the clothes and clearing his throat before he replied in a casually friendly tone.
"Nah you didn't look like either of those. I thought you were a homeless vagrant and you just didn't know what the hell you were doing at first. Then you told me you had no recollection of how you ended up where you were and I guess I let the sympathy in my heart get the better of me. I don't normally invite strangers into my home, especially ones that were as odd as you were." He snorted near the end of his sentence. Jonath blinking confused and tilting his head slightly to the left in curiosity. What did he mean by that?
"Odd?" He repeated in a lightly laced tone of ignorance. Jeremy glancing up from moving the clothes to the dresser and then looking back down as he responded, right wrinkly hand pointing briefly at the mess of spiky platinum silver hair atop Jonath's head.
"Well for one, a natural hair color like that is nigh non-existent. I'm sure if you'd had paid attention to everyone around you a bit more you'd see you're the only one walking around with hair that color. Of course people probably write it off as something not all that serious which is why you haven't been mobbed by crazies but ya, bright platinum silver spiky hair, pale skin and glowing silver pale eyes make you stand out. I call you a pretty boy cause you're literally up that alley." He chuckled and paused moving to rummaged through another nightstand on his side of the
bed. Jonath nodding rather delayed in agreement with him, he had a point he guessed, about the appearance stuff not being called a pretty boy. Jonath hated that description.
"Your eyes also glow in the dark, it's subtle but they do and you may not notice it but the glow intensifies when your emotions fluctuate. Glowing eyes are a rarity even among Nightborn and signify supernatural powers in the eyes. It's also how I can tell if you're lying to me. The limbal rings around your Melissaes brighten up." He threw that last part in with a vague smirk. Jonath immediately snorting back at him in light irritation before just rolling his eyes and continuing to take in what he said. His appearance indeed was rather unique, no wonder Kelarin seemed to have taken a liking to him when they first met probably.
