SWNOVELS Chapter 15
Verse 14 –12 Strongest (second Ballad)
Jyro sat in his room at the dorm and starred in wonder at his cursed arm, he flexed and clenched his hands, it moved just like his normal hand and responded just the same but from time to time he’d feel an ominous sensation coming from within the arm and say by day that sensation grew stronger. “Jyro are you ready yet “screamed Johnny from the other side of the door, “I’ll be just a second “ he replied ,Jyro quickly wrapped his hand and arm with bandages tightly woven then put on his gloves and proceeded out the door, “ ill catch you later Sebastian “ he said whilst he walked out his room. The two boys were on their way to Mongoleys shop, since rumours began spreading that the strongest 12 event will be happening very soon, so Tristine Suggested Jyro visit Mongoley and gets equipped. Whilst the two boys strolled through the Academy campuses they suddenly came across a peculiar girl who was roller skating through the gardens, the two of them stopped and begun admiring the girl who was weaving in and out of the walking students, her silky flame coloured hair trailed behind her as she dashed and twirled around in the sun, she turned towards the boys direction and gazed towards them with her bronze coloured eyes. The girl noticed the two boys gawking at her, as she removed her goggles and flicked her hair back the two boys began nervously muttering to themselves thinking about what they’ll say. “Why hello you two and do I possibly owe you two something huh” the girl said sarcastically, her eyes then fixated on Jyro “… wait a sec your Jyro Thomas right, yeah you are you’re the guy with Lightning brand…haha its true you are cute” she said , Jyro was off guard by the girls words and didn’t know what to respond back with, to the displeasure of Johnny of course who started puffin up in envy, “ ahem…And I’m his best friend, genius tactician Johnny Albertsonn pleasure to meet you my fair maiden” spoke Johnny “ Fair Maiden?” repeated Jyro, “ who even talks like that anymore” Jyro said, “ haha nice to meet you Johnny.. You don’t remember me do you, we met briefly at the showcase event, my names Madison Scarlet but you can call me Maddy for short” winked the girl. The girls cheeky wink sent smiles forming on the two boys faces “Nice to meet you Maddy…err we were just on our way to get ready for the Event coming up I heard it was taking place soon” explained Jyro “ oh really you heard it was taking place soon did ya? well Let me give you a hint a little birdy of mine told me it could start as early as tonight” Madison whispered to the two boys, “now don’t say your big sis didn’t help you out now yeah haha I’ll be looking forward to the event guys, try go easy on me ok” she said cheekily before skating away into the distance.
By now it was already noon, and Jyro and Johnny had just made it to town. “Hey Jyro you think Madison was telling the truth about tonight” Johnny Asked, “ pftt no clue mate, but Its best to be ready for anything I suppose” Replied Jyro , the bells chimed as they entered the shop. “Ay laddies welcome I was waiting for youz , I got something for ya” Mongoley proceeded to the back for a few moments , the two boys simply stood there in wait and stareda round blankly. Mongoley then emerged from the back holding a few things in his arms, he placed the items on the counter than began to explain them to the two young boys,” alright Johnny, I heard you’ll be Jyros support during the event so your gunna need some protection, hear ya go these should be of use to ya” Mongoley handed Johnny pieces of light armour, a small pocket sized dagger and a monocular telescope , “ whoa how am I going to carry all this stuff” yelped Johnny, Mongoley then brought out a pouch, the same pouch he found in the forest. “Wait Mongoley you sure it’s safe to give him that “Jyro stressed, “Ay It’ll be alright lad it’ll do you boys more good than it will just lying here, so take it”, Johnny caught the pouch then looked at Jyro in confusion “what am I supposed to do with this thing” bewildered Johnny, “why don’t you try placing those things inside one by one” said Jyro. Johnny begun placing each item inside the pouch, as each item went in he realised no weight seemed to add to the pouch and the items disappeared inside,” wait what the… where did they go” he placed his hands inside the pouch and pulled the armour out” Whoa it’s still here…wow that’s sooo cool , cheers Mongoley” said Johnny whilst he played around with the pouch , “oh and for you Mr Thomas you’ll need this”, Jyro was handed a short dagger that bend slightly at its tip its hilt was bronze with small engravings on the side, he embraced the weapon and begun waving and slashing the sword through the air.” It looks like you’re a natural ay, it suits your hand perfectly” Mongoley boasted, whilst Jyro swung the sword softly through the air he looked closer at the steel and noticed the tiny engravings along it “What’s these markings on it” he asked, “mmmm its one of the oldest and rarest swords I’ve owned so I don’t even know myself, it looks like one of those old Arabic languages probably ‘Hebrew’, Jyro received the sheath for the short sword and tied it on his waist. Jyro looked around the shop and noticed Liam wasn’t around” Liam off on an errand then” he asked” nope the young boys gone and gotten himself ill so I told him to stay indoors till he got better, I’ll let him know you stopped by… wish you two the best of luck alright” Mongoley then rubbed both of the boys on their heads and said his final goodbye to them.
Night time drew onto Canta City and Jyro lay in his bed with his sword still admiring it. Whilst he was dazzling at the sight of his new weapon he heard pecking sounds coming from his window, so he quickly drew his curtains open to see what it was. Flying outside his window was a black crow holding an envelope in its beak, the moment Jyro opened his windows the crow threw the letter at him then flew away. He quickly got up and picked up the letter he opened it up and it read...” Dear 12 chosen E graders, please get yourselves ready and report to the main hall as quickly as possible, please also gather your chosen helper on the way and bring them with you……” your task will begin in 20 minutes (task mission below) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Your to travel to the town of keddesh located 30 miles West from the City, when you get there your task is to locate the Crystal castle in ruins ,within you’ll find the red treasure , the first of you to obtain it will win the task….Good luck”.
Jyro got dressed put on his long brown jacket, and gathered his things. Jyro knew he’d be gone for a while so he hugged his little cub friend then departed out. Knock Knock Knock sounds suddenly turned into Bang Bang, “alright-alright I’m coming erg who’s banging my door at this time” said Johnny whilst opening his door,” Johnny get dressed it’s time to go , here look at this” Jyro handed over the letter to Johnny who then begun skimming through it” OH Blimey its time.. It’s time for the EVENT!” screeched Johnny who frantically scurried back into his room to hastily get himself dressed.
Johnny eventually got himself all packed and ready, to the “much distaste of Jyro who waited for about 15 minutes for his friend , “ oh Shoot!, we’ve only got 3 minutes left, come on were gunna have to run for it” Jyro stressed. They both begun running through the Academy halls, whilst they raced along the marble tiled floorings the noise they both generated was enough to probably wake up every student sleeping, the Chapel doors was ahead of them. ‘Creaaak…! Slam! The two doors flung open with Jyro and Johnny flying through them…. “We’re…here… we made it” panted Johnny, the two boys arrived in the hall were the rest of the 11 were all gathered with their helpers all scowling at the two late comers. Tristine sat on the bench shaking her head at her two friends late arrival, “well nice for you two to join us…finally” said the headmistress who was addressing the kids prior to the boys outburst “shall we begin then, I expect you all have read your Task brief so I won’t bother going over that again, you’ll be needing these” the headmistress handed the students a folded piece of paper, Jyro opened it up and saw it was a small map.” Now then that’s about everything the Task will start the moment you cross Cantas border and you’ve got 4 days to complete it, good luck”. “Oh yes one more thing, you’ll all be released out the gates in the order you entered the hall” the headmistress then begun calling out the names of the students in order of their arrival and the time difference between each students arrival from the last is the time they’ll have to wait before leaving, once Jyro and Johnny realised they’d probably be the last two they decided to take a seat and analyse the map. “Mmm so looks like there’s two routes to Keddesh , we can either take the road along the mountain or cut through the mainland’s and take this narrow path which looks like the quicker option” said Johnny,” then wont everyone be taking the shorter route then” questioned Jyro “ well logically that would be the wise choice but look closely the mainland’s is completely covered in red meaning there’s a high risk will encounter lesser demons whereas the mountain road is clear and its green meaning chances of demons are practically 0” said Johnny. Jyro realised the two of them had a decision to make about which route they’ll be taking,” I’ll leave it to you Johnny you are the Ducem out of the two of us so ill trust your choice” Jyros words touched Johnny who tried his best to not crack a smile” ahem , ok will be doing this we’ll take the mountain route but we won’t be following the path, judging by the structure I’m guessing the height of the mountain isn’t that tall meaning we can simple cross through it… yeah that’s what will do” Johnny realised since they’d be released late their going to have to make a lot of ground to catch up with the others. “ Mr Thomas & Mr Albertsonn……EXCUSE ME YOU TWO” screamed the headmistress startling the two boys,” your waiting times over, you may leave” the two of them looked around the hall and realised everyone had left. Jyro and Johnny finally were on their way, they approached the entrance gate and heaved it open, the first thing they saw was the bright white sphere in the sky and they remembered it was night time so precaution had to be taken whilst they travelled.
Upon their imminent departure the two boys were halted by the two gate Guards Little Ben and Big Pete, “elo elo there look who it is Ben” “why I see who it is Pete” “It’s that boy” “indeedy it is that boy again” whilst the two men rhythmically exchanged amongst each other Jyro and Johnny simply looked on in annoyance at the two wondering what they even wanted. “Erg what do these two want now” stressed Johnny “guys I’d love to chat but were already running late plus its getting quite dark so…”, “oh don’t fret golden haired youth we only pester for a reason” “indeedy Boy don’t sulk we came bearing gifts” “the Gift of a message” said both men simultaneously, “well go on then what is the message” Jyro asked, the two men then begun to converse between each other trying to remember the message,” ahemm oi you two, yeah you twiddle Dee and dumb please relay this message to the last two boys who come out, they must walk east for 2 miles till they reach the stone lodged under the bridge when they get there I’ll be waiting “ Jyro and Johnny were hesitant after receiving the message,” can you describe to us how the person looked” the two boys asked,” mmmmmm Blue hair I think right ben” “mmmmmm yeah blue hair Pete she was the one who set that demon on us before friend “ “ahhh indeed indeed she was that one”, the moment the young boys heard the person had Blue hair they immediately knew it was Tristine.
2 miles east is where they began walking they had covered about 1 ¼ when Johnny began having ill thoughts about the whole matter,” Seriously Jyro I’m not 100% about this to be honest yeah I know she’s our friend and everything but right now were all against each other what’s to say she isn’t laying a trap for us” Johnny said whilst he continued pitching theories of Tristines betrayal, “don’t worry Johnny Trish isn’t like that, so let’s hurry up and get a move on we’re already late”. The two boys eventually made it to the required destination, they stood afar and saw the huge stone which lay in the river stream under the bridge,” I don’t see Tristine anywhere mate, be on guard it might be a set up” as soon as Johnny finished his sentence an arrow whizzed past his face and landed right in front of the two, “and what exactly must you two be on guard from” said a voice, which turned out to be none other than Tristine. The young girl was perched atop a branch, clothed in dark coloured cloak, “ what took you guys so long” said Tristine while dropping down from the tree “ Well it looks like you’ve been enjoying yourself considering your using arrows till greet people now” said Johnny “ haha don’t whine about it Johnathan we haven’t crossed the border yet so it’ll be illegal to take you out” winked Tristine , “but quickly follow me I’ve got something for us” the young girl then lead the two boys over the bridge and down a steep path, till they arrived at what looked like an abandoned stable. (Sigh) “You do know where literally going in the opposite way Trish” Johnny stressed,” just shhh for a second were almost there” Jyro could hear feint sounds coming from the abandoned stable, the exterior of the shack was rundown with the roof half missing, it was clear nothing had lived inside it for a very long time. When the kids entered the shack Tristine took out a flash light and continued leading the two boys, they slowly walked through the darkness when a shadowy figure suddenly towered over the boys, the presence startled Johnny who screamed in fear,” woah take it easy, down boy down” said Tristine, Jyro slowly approached the shadow then realised it wasn’t a monster or demon but a horse. “This guy look familiar to you Jyro” smirked Tristine, Jyro moved closer to the animal and recognised it perfectly, its left eye was dark brown and its right eye was blue and it had a white patch on its brow, it was the black horse he tamed from the stables. Jyro was both surprised and happy to see the stead again,” w..w..what is that thing” Johnny squelched whilst slowly gathering himself up, “ it’s only a horse you big baby,(sigh) honestly Jyro I don’t understand why you brought him along”, Jyros didn’t hear what his two friends were squabbling about his attention was fully focused on the horse as he begun petting and talking to it. “It’s good to see you two getting along, my uncle said he hasn’t allowed anyone to ride him since he met you so he sent him and along with my stead” said Tristine,” hey wait a minute are we allowed to ride those I’m particularly sure it’s stated in the laws that…”! The black horse begun neighing towards Johnny who immediately cowered behind Jyro, “Anyway Jyro mount your steed and I’ll meet you out front, mines in the other room” Jyro mounted his horse who slowly begun to settle down and relax more, he proceeded outside with his horse when Tristine came dashing on her stead from around the corner, “wow it’s just like before he’s not even reacting” said Tristine as she marvelled at Jyro and his horse, she then looked back at Johnny who was still standing cautiously away from the horses “ come on now Johnny jump on, with these will cover twice us much ground now” Johnny remain silent and slowly clutched onto Jyros hands as he helped lift him up behind him , the horse became slightly agitated, “whoa easy boy he’s not a bad guy alright he’s my friend so you got to let him ride you as well” said Jyro to the horse the horse grunted and puffed “ haha that’s my boy” Jyro replied, “ now where all set let’s get a move on shall we… oh yeah you haven’t given him a name yet Jyro? Tristine asked. Jyro slowly pondered on a name he then looked down at the horse and said “Boanerges …that’s his name”, the 3 kids and their two horses then set off back west dashing through the wind onwards to the task.