At Silvie's house, She paces back and forth while Meliach sits on one of the wooden chairs, eating some chocolates.
Silvie: Do you think he's alright?
Meliach: Probably, maybe he didn't go the fort at all
Silvie: BUT HE'S NOT AT THE INN!
Meliach stands up and comforts Silvie,
Meliach: Don't you worry, He's one of the best adventurers in Lorian. Not even a Royal Guard can touch him
At that moment, Someone knocks frantically on the door. Silvie hurriedly rushes to the door while Melaich stands up with his hands ready to cast magic, to protect her just in case. Silvie opens the door to James, who looks exhausted, wearing torn clothing. Meliach relaxes his stance a bit
Meliach: Damm, You look like shit
Silvie: JAMES!
Silvie hugs James and tears follow
James: (difficulty breathing) I'm getting choked...
Silvie stops hugging
James: I'm alright! I would love some water though
Silvie: Right, I'll get you a glass
Silvie swiftly rushes inside the house kitchen to give James a glass of water. James enters inside and loos at Meliach
Meliach: What happened?
James: The gem… The Parade followed the Gem, apparently it was easily traceable or something.
Melaich: Wha- How in the-
Melaich helps James to sit down on the chair and Silvie gives a glass of water to James. He drinks it quickly and puts the glass on the table
Silvie: Explain what happened, all we heard is that someone tried to kill The king during the Leyline Inauguration and Someone created an blue explosion in the sky and ran away
James: First off, Noo, they were trying to kill me. They followed the Red Gem, it had a different type of magic, easily traceable or some shit. But something… (thinking) something weird happened when we fought.
Meliach: What do you mean weird?
James: Well.. Alright, Umm… Do you know how my Energy magic works?
Meliach: Yes
Silvie: Kind of?
James sighs and takes a deep breath
James: Here we go, my powers, simply put, push away objects and reduce the potency of the magic it touches. It has its limits, like its not a shield or something but that's how I can fly, I push the ground and air away from me
Silvie: Oh.. that's interesting
James: Yeah, it is. But this time… When i attacked the magic thrown at me, it… it was like the Energy was increasing the Magic's potency, like it made it stronger.
Meliach: Maybe you did something different this time. I mean, you're the one who said that since no one has had energy as an affinity, perhaps there might be things you don't know about it.
James: I did but… this time, It was all the same. Anyway, what happened next was the weirdest part… I'm pretty sure I.. died.
Melaich and Silvie go blank for a moment, unable to comprehend what James just said
Silvie: WHAT!
Silvie looks shocked, almost petrified. One can only imagine that she has seen a Ghost. Meliach is confused, he looks at James and touches him
Meliach: I don't know man, you look pretty lively to me at the moment
James: No, I'm sure I died. I fell from the sky after I got hit from the Magic but then I remember seeing some kind of… mana ball? I'm not sure but, then the Gem broke and whatever was inside the Gem… Went inside me.
Silvie: Inside?!
Silvie now looks lifeless from the shock
James: Whatever it was, It took control of me, of my body and… I'm sure I or 'It' killed all of them in 30 seconds, tops
Melaich tries to help James make sense of this
Meliach: Maybe you hit your head man. Like, maybe you fell and softened you blow and just imagined all of this happening
Silvie: That's possible too, I can fix you up
James now annoyed at his friend's disbelief,
James: How do you explain this!?
James takes his right arm out and opens his right hand, a ball of fire starts to form on the right hand. There's a clear distinction from fire created from a fire affinity user and fire made by James's Energy and this was clearly not James's Energy at play
Meliach: Woah….
Silvie: So, it's true…It is inside you
A few hours passed since that conversation, it was bedtime and everyone had their fair share of shocks and disbeliefs for the day. James was given a new set of clothes by Meliach who bought it at a nearby Leatherworker's shop. It looked much better than the usual adventuring dress that he used to wear. It was made of Persian black leather, lined with brown sachets and dark blue accents, as compared to his old worn out blue accents.
As James was getting ready to leave for the Inn, Silvie stopped him.
Silvie: So, I know I didn't give much input during that whole thing a few hours ago but, I just want you to know that I'm really worried for you.
Silvie hugs James
Silvie: You took up the job of an Adventurer and I'm so, so proud that you did but, this whole thing now… it's not normal. Put down the sword for a while, even mom and dad would agree with me.
James: Silvie… I understand but-
Silvie: You're my brother and I can't imagine anything happening to you…
James smiles at his sister's show of affection.
James: I get it, you don't have to worry about me okay? And I'm proud of you too! You're a town doctor and you've helped sooo many more. Besides, I'll be fine. It comes with the job of an adventurer. This time... is just a bit different but I'll always be fine.
Silvie takes a deep breath, her eyes teared up and gleaming in the light of the night sky
Silvie: Thank you.
James smiles, opens the main door and leaves for the Inn but Silvie stops him
Silvie: You can sleep in my room today with Meliach, I'll sleep on the couch tonight
James: Oh?
James strikes a pose, going back to his normal self
James: (Smiling) I thought you wanted to sleep with Meliach tonight?
Silvie holds up a fist and smiles eerily
Silvie: You wanna die twice in one day?
James rushes to her room
James: SORRY! GOOD NIGHT!
James shuts the door and goes to sleep almost instantly, He's been tired for a long time now.
James opens his eyes in a sudden shock, but all he sees is darkness. He can see himself and his clothes but there's nothing else there. Just him. James was about to look around when a Voice called behind him.
Voice: James Skylar Mgrath
James turns around to see a fiery being resembling a human with arms and legs and features visible from the varying intensity of the fire on its face. It looks at him rather annoyed.
James: What the-
Voice: Surprised?
The voice sounded deep and commanding
James: Who are you?
Voice: I am the Right-Hand general of the Demon-king, I am Kronos!
James: The What now?
James looks around
James: Is this a dream? Gotta say, this might be the weirdest one.
The Voice laughs hysterically and stops. It leaps in front of him
Kronos: You took me from one prison just to keep me in another!
James falls down from the sudden shock. The being takes its hand up, ready to attack James.
James: WAIITT!
As Kronos readies, a green blinding light shines on both of them. They look at the source, a green ball of energy, tied up using chains on a wall and there were 2 other balls of energy, kept on the wall, blue and orange but they weren't tied up. The orange one energy was seeping into and out of Kronos.
James: What is that?
Kronos's face looks perplexed, as if he had seen something weird but he shrugs it off and looks back at James.
Kronos: Consider yourself lucky James Mgrath, Fate has allowed you to live this time
Kronos turns his back to James and walk away
James: Wait where are you goin-
James jerks up frantically from his bed. He wakes up to see both Melaich and Silvie with empty buckets. It takes him a second to realise that his clothes have fire holes in them and he's soaking wet.
James just looks at Melaich like, 'What the fuck'
Melaich: It was out of necessity!
Silvie chimed in,
Silvie: Yeah! You were on fire! You could have burned my house down!
Silvie was more concerned about the house than James, looking for any wood burns while James takes off his shirt and pants. He finds new pants and shirts given to him by Melaich yesterday and throws away the burned ones.
Melaich: You need to do something about this whole Gem Being situation. We don't know anything about this. We don't know how its affecting you or changing you.
James: Yeah… I'll find a way, somehow
Silvie: I know where we can get some information. A place I've been planning on going to for a while.
Both James and Melaich turn their heads in curiosity.
Melaich: Where?
Silvie: (Confidently) The Archives.
James and Melaich: (In sync) Oh FUCK no!
Silvie looks confused, turning her head at them both who seem to bear a certain hatred towards The Archives