They say time heals all wounds, and in Jack’s case, it took one full month for him to digest Nova’s words and reflect on everything that had happened to him.
Then, he finally came to a decision.
The morning after, with eyes filled with resolve, he grabbed his communication device and called Cassidy.
“Jack?!” she exclaimed from the other end. It had been a month since she, along with Thomas, Rachel, and Samuel, had heard anything from him, and she never expected that today would be the day he personally sought her out.
Her reply managed to crack a slight smile on Jack’s lips.
Despite it not being long since he last spoke with her, things hadn’t felt the same ever since he fell unconscious. Now, after hearing his friend’s voice, he realized how much he had missed this kind of interaction he once shared with his friends.
“Mhm, it’s me. I wanted to know more about the offer you made me a month ago,” he said calmly.
Cassidy’s eyes lit up. “You want to come and teach the students at Quarath Academy?”
“Yeah, if that spot is still available,” Jack said.
“It is, it is,” she replied hastily, worried he might change his mind. She immediately launched into a full explanation of his role, not forgetting to mention Ysara’s bet either, in an attempt to show just how important this position was.
She didn’t want him to think this was a useless role.
Jack listened quietly, letting Cassidy finish explaining everything before asking, “When do I start?”
“The sooner, the better. We can’t waste any more of our students’ time, or our chances of losing the next tournaments will only increase,” she said with a tinge of urgency.
He nodded to himself and said as he left the apartment, “Great. I’ll start today.”
And so, less than eight months before entering the Less Orange portal, Jack left Erevan’s village after leaving behind a note and moved to Quarath to teach the students.
From then on, the months flew by.
Jonathan, having already verified that Nemesis wasn’t secretly planning to overthrow him, took no further action and allowed the two sides to continue their usual small skirmishes. They were meant both to temper his soldiers and to stall Nemesis’s rise, though at times he wondered whose soldiers were truly being tempered, as each encounter left fewer and fewer survivors on his side.
Still, that didn’t worry him. What he cared about most was holding onto his seat.
Everything else came second.
Small beast tides, at least at first, continued to rampage across Earth, and as time passed, they grew stronger and more numerous. So much so, in fact, that many captains and commanders under Nemesis were relieved they only had Quarath to protect and didn’t need to venture beyond its walls.
The beasts’ growth rate was astonishing. In mere months, the number of Grade 1s leading each group increased tenfold, going from an average of three to five beasts to as many as fifty at once.
But it wasn’t all bad news.
With such a drastic increase in strength, the rewards rose accordingly, allowing soldiers to make rapid progress in their Stat Points, at least those who were shortsighted enough to allocate them immediately.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Another notable reward was their bodies. The stronger the beasts the more they became treasures and, with them, people could craft better gear for themselves.
While all of this was happening, Nova seemed to have cut himself off from the rest of the world.
As the months passed, he had yet to take a single step beyond the mountain range where he had settled.
Each day, he devoted himself to comprehending the Spear King’s Spear Force through the letter’s calligraphy, and in his spare time, he studied Arrays, something he had always wanted to pursue but never felt he had the time for.
Until recently.
‘It’s almost time,’ Nova thought as he stored both the Array Basics booklet and the Spear King’s letter. ‘I wonder if Jack will come or not… I haven’t talked to him since that day in the courtyard, and that was almost nine months ago.’
His head turned toward the cave’s entrance. Outside, the night sky was slowly fading as dawn approached.
‘Whether he comes or not, I’ll know soon enough, but if he tries to enter with the same state of mind he had when I met him, then—'
Bzzzz.
The communication device buzzing in his pocket interrupted his thoughts.
When he saw the caller, Nova couldn’t help but scoff. “You’ve been standing in front of that portal for years, and now you’re so excited you can’t wait, eh?”
He accepted the call, but before he could say anything, a single, calm yet firm word echoed through the device.
“Come.”
Then the call disconnected.
After a brief moment of silence, Nova chuckled and stood, walking toward the entrance.
There, he stopped and turned his head back.
“I’ve spent more time here than anywhere else on Earth ever since I came back.”
The cave was empty. One could find no trace of a human having lived here for months, except for a small ledge to the side that served as a bed.
“At this point, I’m no different from those crazies who walk barefoot and try to sound like sages, even when they aren’t.”
Nova shook his head in self-deprecation. After giving the cave one final look, he sped toward Erevan’s village.
When he reached the gate, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“What are you doing here?” he asked casually, staring at the figure before him.
“I’m here for the same reason you’re here.” Jack smiled. “Why don’t we go in together?”
Arching a brow, Nova didn’t answer. Instead, he walked up to him and looked deeply into his eyes.
The two soon fell into a silent staring match, neither willing to look away.
After a minute or two, seeing that nothing was wrong with his friend and that his eyes had regained the will to fight, Nova blinked and nodded.
“At least you’re somewhat back to normal. Let’s go in.”
Without waiting for a response, Nova stepped past him and through the gate, entering the village.
Jack smiled to himself at that and followed right after.
To him, Nova’s words were tacit approval, proof that his friend believed he was steady enough to enter the hardest portal yet. He didn’t need to doubt for a single moment that, if he showed even the slightest weakness, Nova would have done everything in his power to stop him.
He knew it would have been for his own good, and that thought comforted him even more.
/////
Making their way through the buildings, Nova and Jack soon arrived at the centremost one, where the Lesser Orange portal swirled quietly.
Creak.
Nova pushed the door open, revealing a row of people standing to the side, most of whom he recognized, while Erevan and Slade stood in the middle, directly in front of the portal.
At that moment, Erevan turned toward them and grinned.
“I’ve been waiting for the both of you for a while.”
Nova and Jack didn’t say anything as they made their way over. Only when they stood a meter away did they exchange a few pleasantries, entirely forgetting about Slade, who, as always, seemed too disdainful to even look at them.
Then Erevan turned to the people standing to the side and said, “Colin, Ren, Sophia, Hannah, Carter, Micah.” He addressed them one by one.
“Guard this place while we’re away. Nobody is allowed to enter.”
Their eyes sharpened, and they all nodded solemnly. They were already fully aware of their mission and had guarded this place for years, so this was more of a perfunctory ceremony than anything else, but they didn’t dare take it lightly.
Seeing them nod, Erevan nodded back. Then, as he faced the portal, he side-glanced at the three people beside him.
“Follow me.”
He stepped forward and entered the portal.
Without missing a beat, Slade silently followed.
Behind them, Nova looked at Jack. “This is your last chance to turn back.”
Not waiting for an answer, he entered, leaving Jack alone in the middle of the room.
“As if. You should know me by now,” Jack chuckled, and stepped inside.
Ten seconds passed after Jack entered, and the pillar of light radiating from the Lesser Orange portal, which had pierced through the sky, slowly dimmed, until it ultimately vanished.
But that wasn’t all. After the bright glow faded, the portal itself began to dim as if it lost its energy. Its swirling slowed to a crawl, and if one didn’t look closely, they might have thought it was frozen.
From this moment until the following year, the Lesser Orange portal would be inaccessible to anyone.
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