Chapter 15: Ajal; Shauran 20th 344SR; 12:30

Ajal soared through the air as he fled from the town of Logos burning to the ground, Jack was unconscious on being carried on his back. As he descended he focused his spirit into his foot and kicked off the ground the moment he landed. There was nothing but fields of grass and hills for miles, however there was the occasional stone structure that seemed withered and destroyed.

"Hey! Over here!" Sarah called out.

Ajal glanced over to the right to see a small group on a dirt path, 'They made some good distance...' He descended and landed in front of the small crowd of people, crouching to absorb the impact of the fall. Sarah ran forward with a happy face which immediately turned to shock when she saw Jack.

"Oh shit, what the hell happened to him?" Sarah asked.

John ran forward and fell to his knees.

"Oh no... no no no, I knew I shouldn't have listened to him... Jack... i'm so sorry," John sobbed.

"He isn't dead..." said Ajal.

"Oh," John said awkwardly.

"Yeah he isn't dead... idiot," George added as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

George held up the wagon full of children, stains of dirt on his black shirt and bruises on his face.

"Why did Jack stay in Logos?" Reinhardt came forward and asked.

Reinhardt had a large bruise on the side of his face, and there was a bit of blood on his lip. His clothes we're torn and dirty just like George's. 'These people didn't stand a chance back there...'

A dark skinned boy in the crowd stood up as he heard Jack's name, he was about five feet tall, the same height as Sarah. He held his head while he shoved himself through the others, there was a red mark under his hand but aside from that he didn't seem too beat up.

"Did you just say Jack?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

Ajal glanced past Reinhardt's shoulder at the man who approached, he was well built, skin sandy in texture and color. His hair was slicked back except for the bangs at the side of his head slightly covered his narrow eyes. His expression shock and disbelief as he observed the bloodied Jack resting on Ajal's shoulder.

"It's him, he's the guy who kicked Alexander Rael's ass!" the dark skinned boy ran forward and pointed at Jack who remained unconscious.

"Franklin, you're a moron!" Sarah smacked the boy in the head.

"Ow! What the heck was that for!" Franklin pouted.

"For making such a big deal out of that scrawny guy! People actually got their hopes up!" Sarah scolded.

"How is that a bad thing! Tell her Ben," Franklin spat back.

"You are an idiot... there's no way in hell that guy- Jack beat Alexander, you keep hyping it up like a clown," said Ben.

"I'm not a clown!"

"Reinhardt is this the guy?" another short black haired man pointed at Ajal.

"Yeah, that's Ajal, the one who arrived here from a different planet. Ajal this is Adam Rodrick, that's his brother Benjamin Rodrick. The little one is Franklin, Franklin Huvic. We are what's left of the resistance" Reinhardt introduced.

Ajal looked at the group of people, they all looked rather ordinary. Ajal couldn't sense much spirit from either of them, 'This is... no... underwhelming is putting it lightly...'

"Where'd you find this guy?" Adam asked Reinhardt.

"In the woods, north of the mines, surprisingly at the outpost we've been attacking," Reinhardt turned to him and replied.

"And... you found this guy with Jack?"

"Yes."

"What about the outpost? Did you find what that short guy mentioned? What the angels hid?"

"No, that ship belonged to Ajal, however it's been scrapped of its parts according to him... it was a suicide mission... we would've died for nothing."

Adam took a step back and squatted down, sat with his legs crossed with a weary and exhausted look on his face. He looked down in thought. Adam wasn't as muscular as Reinhardt but he seemed equally mature.

"So... what now?" Adam looked up at Reinhardt.

"After what just happened... I truly don't know. Maybe its time to admit defeat, the hybrid resistance uses us as pawns, the angels use us as pawns," Reinhardt reasoned.

"But... you saw what I just saw. Right?" Adam pointed at Ajal. "This guy wrecked 2 nobles and 2 clan leaders... Who on this planet other than maybe Abaddon could do that?"

'Wrecked? I held back for most of that...' Ajal pondered.

"What are you two talking about?" Ajal asked.

"Hey, sir... uh Sir Ajal-"

"Ajal is fine."

"Could you just help us defeat the hybrid alliance?" Adam asked.

"No," Ajal declined.

"Oh," he replied with an awkward smile.

"I told Jack I'd help him... not exactly sure how to go about that yet. However, I need to find someone who can fix my ship... it's gonna be tough considering that technology is far less advanced on this planet," Ajal explained.

"What's a ship?" Adam replied.

"It's a, something you would fly- nevermind..." Ajal gave up immediately.

"The angels will be coming after us... where should we go?" John asked.

"Most of the non-unified made their way to the surrounding towns," Franklin pointed out.

"Wait a second... if Jack's here... who set Geral Murdok free?" Adam wondered.

"Geral Murdok?" Ajal repeated.

"He's a criminal who runs the black market, he was imprisoned along with a bunch of other big shots in Lemen. But he recently escaped and no one knows how... the rumor was it was the infamous culprit who got away with injuring Alexander Rael. Him." Adam pointed at the unconscious Jack.

"Black market? Where can I find this Geral Murdok? He sounds like someone with connections." Ajal suddenly took interest.

"Geral Murdok went missing, but he's somewhere on the continent of Hiria. But if i'm being honest, only an idiot wouldn't think he's in Murdok," Adam answered.

"Murdok, Isn't that his name?" Ajal repeated.

"No... Murdok Bay, it used to be called Maryn, before mercenaries and pirates took the town and skinned the town's folk alive. They barricaded the town with the corpses," Adam explained.

'Thats gruesome...' Ajal cringed at that last part.

"Why do people think Jack set that guy free?" Ajal asked curiously.

"The rumor is that the guards heard him say 'Jack' before the prison was attacked. Thanks to Franklin's hype, people connected the dots that the Jack from Logos who supposedly defeated Alexander Rael is the culprit who set Geral free."

"What's the fastest way to Murdok?" Ajal asked.

Adam's eyes went wide, he blinked in disbelief.

"Were you even listening? That place is a death trap..." Adam tried to warn him.

"What's the fastest way to Murdok?" Ajal asked once more.

"Don't worry Adam, confidence is something you have to get used to around Ajal," said John.

"You've known me for a few hours but I couldn't agree more,"

Adam sighed as he shook his head.

"Going east is suicide... west is also tough, but it's the only realistic way. We can take those kids to Ulkay, but to be honest... it won't be long before angels find them. The traders bridge is in the west just past Ulkay, if we can get across it and through the ruined valley, we'll reach Andurill." Adam explained.

'When I saw the cliff side earlier... I could probably go east alone, they wouldn't be able too. This guy may know his stuff, not like I have a choice other than to depend on him though...'

"Then from there, it's best we go to Argol. We'll be able to go straight to Murdok through black market trade routes, we should also be able to meet up with the hybrid resistance there, Argol is part of their territory after all." Adam concluded.

"Are there any more resistance members in the surrounding towns?" Ajal asked.

Ajal didn't get a response, he observed the various faces. Lips puckered as if they had eaten something sour. Eyes looked down or sometimes to the side. 'I screwed up when I asked that didn't I?'

"Well, we started out with a lot," George spoke up.

"Most have been killed or captured... which could also mean killed. But, yeah. The only people who I know aren't captured are some of the big figures, any of the small fry like us are gone." George scratched his head while he explained.

"Big figures? You're all small fry?" Ajal looked at the non-unified around him.

'Well actually thinking back to it... every time I get to the scene these guys are on the verge of defeat after some life or death battle...'. John walked in front of George.

"The big figures of the resistance are mainly the hybrid warriors, but on the non-unified side we have a couple strange ones. It's hard to really explain them, they don't make contact with us, mainly just the big figures..." John explained.

The group was alerted to the sound of marching hooves mixed with rolling wheels. Ajal turned and looked down the path to see angel on a caravan, two horses pulled the caravan along the path towards them.

"Finally an animal... here I thought there was none on this planet," said Ajal.

The angel got off the wagon which was being pulled by horses. She wore a green robe overtop the white dress shirt, on the back of the robe was the insignia of a skull shaped like a fist. She picked up a metal staff before she approached the crowd of non-unified and Ajal. The angels mask covered her face, despite two holes to see through, they approached with an air of confidence and authority.

"You damn non-unified maggots," the angel mocked.

"You've got some nerve running from Logos, now get in the caravan so you can help fix the town you swines. I'll get promoted to lieutenant for this, so hurry up!" she demanded and walked right up to Ajal who towered over the five in a half foot woman.

"Oh, well if it isn't Jack, for a slave, it looks like you did most of the work, good job," She complimented Ajal. "This one needs to be beaten often, he has a sharp tongue and often doesn't recognize his place."

Ajal looked at Jack and then back to the guard.

"You might as well keep walking and leave that caravan for us. You won't be riding it anymore," Ajal recommended.

"What did you say?" she tightened her grip on the metal staff.

She pulled her staff back and tried to swing it, he raised one arm and the staff broke against Ajal's hand. The angel looked at the jagged tip of metal, dumbfounded at what just happened. Ajal walked past her and struck the back of her head, she fell to her knees and on the ground with an audible thud, a chain mail underneath the white robes rattled.

"Let's use that caravan," Ajal pointed at the caravan with a smile.

The others looked down at the angel on the ground in silence, then back up at Ajal. And then back down at the angel.

"I'm riding in front!" Sarah broke the silence and ran forward.

Ajal walked past the horses which stepped back as he approached, he made his way around the caravan and pulled the curtain to the side. He was met with the concerned expression of multiple non-unified who had been captured.

"Uh, you're free to go? We need this caravan, could you hop out?" Ajal asked the people.

"We... we can go?" a frail man with a thick mustache asked.

Ajal moved to the side and held his hand out, gesturing that they we're free to go.

"Let's go everyone! We're free!" the mustached man shouted several non-unified scurried out of the back of the caravan, and ran past Ajal.

Ajal climbed inside the caravan to see a blonde woman in a white dress sitting in the corner while she cradled a child in her arms. Her white dress was torn slightly and she was bruised in multiple places, but the child spotless 'It's a good thing I knocked out that angel before I saw this...'

"Welp, that's enough space." Ajal knelt down and laid Jack against the wall.

"Hey?" Ajal tried talking to the beaten woman in the corner. "We're taking this caravan west, get out while you can-"

"Did you say west?" Ajal heard the man with the mustache from earlier suddenly poke his head back into the caravan.

"You mean, to Ulkay?" the strange man asked Ajal.

"No, Murdok," Ajal replied.

"Murdok?!? Oh my- West... S-so... you're passing over Andurill?" he seemed to be in disbelief.

"I guess?" Ajal scratched his head.

The man jumped back into the caravan.

"My name is Eckleflor, a slave from Logos! I can sneak you passed the front gates of Andurill!" he suddenly announced.

Eckleflor wore slave clothing, but a black trench coat rather than the simple brown jacket overtop. He was a lanky bald man with a bushy mustache and eyebrows, but his yellow eyes were very sharp, to the point that it gave Ajal a bad feeling.

'Something about you gives me a bad vibe...' Ajal looked down at the man, Eckleflor looked around awkwardly. Jack slowly regained consciousness, he rubbed his eyes.

"Where am I..." he looked around while he appeared considerably drowsy.

George's head suddenly poked through the curtain, he hopped in and the entire caravan shook.

"Excuse me sir," John lightly shoved Eckleflor out of the way and got in.

John, Ben, and Franklin climbed in, each of them rocked the large wooden caravan, Reinhardt passed the children from the wagon into the caravan, each of them somehow still asleep.

"Jack! You moron! Look at your clothes, where did all this blood come from!" John scolded.

"Yeah moron!" Sarah repeated, poking her head in from the front of the caravan, she looked down to see a blonde woman cower in the corner while she shielded her child.

"Hey who's this girl and who hit her? Who's that guy with the weird mustache?" Sarah pointed to the two unknown non-unified.

"Weird?" Eckleflor looked down in shame.

Adam peaked into the back of the caravan.

"Oh hey it's Eckleflor, how've you been!" Adam greeted him, they appeared to know each other.

"Oh no... don't tell me you're all resistance..." Eckleflor suddenly wanted to get out.

"Oh hey- John- you're safe," Jack weakly uttered with a smile on his face.

"Look at yourself Jack!" John pointed at him.

"Jack?" the woman uttered, she stopped cowering in the corner and turned to see Jack sitting near the corner covered in his own blood.

"Oh that's the lady Jack helped earlier when we got back to Logos. What's she doing here?" John mentioned.

"Eckleflor, what'll you need to sneak us past the gates, I'm assuming it won't be free," Ajal tried to stay focused.

"Eckleflor is sneaking us into Andurill? When was this decided?" Adam looked around.

"I simply want access to Andurill, that'll be the terms, but nothing to do with the resistance!" Eckleflor told Ajal.

"Okay, if those are the terms.." Ajal looked down in thought before he turned to the woman in the corner.

"What about you?" She didn't answer, she just stared at Jack with a look of confusion and shock.

"Hey-"

"I don't care... wherever I go they'll take my child from me... and force me to be a slave," she cut Ajal off.

Jack peeked his head out and noticed her there.

"That's Lydia, she lives across from me. She hates me though..." Jack was barely conscious, his speech was groggy and unclear.

She grit her teeth but looked confused as she stared back at Jack. John and George laughed at Jack who laid limp with his back against the wall of the caravan.

"I-I don't-"

"Anyways, Adam... get those horses moving. We need to move quickly." Ajal cut her off as he stood.

Ajal took a seat next to Jack where he could watch the scenery. The caravan began to move as the horses' hooves rhythmically trotted along the dirt path, Eckleflor sat across from Jack, and Franklin also sat next to Jack.

"Ajal... Why is this guy here..." Jack asked, looking at Franklin.

"Hey man, me and Jack go way back," Franklin waved at Ajal.

"No... no we don't..." Jack groaned.

"This is getting hectic." said Ajal.

He looked around at the crowd of people compressed into the small caravan. It briefly reminded him of the life he once had, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of golden items and everyone in the caravan suddenly took notice. Eckleflor's reaction was different, his jaw dropped when he saw it.

"What the heck is this stuff?" Jack fiddled with the golden ring.

It was smooth, but had a few scratches on it, Ajal took one of the coins and looked at it. It had a faint gold shine, and the insignia of a feather on it.

"That's... that's the currency of Andurill... where did you find that..." Eckleflor asked with an almost condescending tone, his eyes wide with an almost crazed look.

"It was someone else's from Logos, I found it in a house with the door left open," Jack held the pendant up and tilted his head as he observed it, it had an oval shaped and was quite large.

"I think that open's up," Ajal observed.

Eckleflor watched the two of them carefully as the caravan bumped and creaked, 'This guy started to act differently when he saw the gold...' Ajal opened the pendant to see a picture of a child.

"You recognize this person?" Ajal asked Jack.

"No..." Jack replied.

"Ring a bell?" Ajal took the pendant and turned it to Eckleflor.

The mustached man shook his head, he took his hat off which revealed a bald head as he looked out of the caravan. 'Maybe i'm overthinking things...' Ajal handed the pendant back to Jack, and looked outside of the caravan, he felt his eyelids start to droop 'I'm tired... I've been walking around since the night, and then fought those people...'

"If anything happens just wake me up, I'm getting some rest," said Ajal.

He closed his eyes. The sound of conversation, the creaking wheels, the hooves of the horses, all of it eventually faded away as Ajal slipped into a slumber, he rested his head against the hard wooden planks of the caravan.

***

"So this is where you were," A familiar soothing voice made him open his eyes.

Instead of the caravan, he was met with a very familiar place. A small pond, where the water wasn't connected to any external source. At the middle of the pond an island, and a small waterfall only two stories high flowed into the pond.

He turned his head and saw the woman he loved stand in a field of white flowers, her skin glimmered in the sunlight, and her long purple hair flowed with the wind. She walked forward as Ajal turned back to the pond, she took a seat on the grass right next to him. 'It's just like old times...'

"I like this place," Ajal replied. "The water's clear, and it flows without ever crashing, it's very serene to listen to and watch. It flows through a reservoir underground and back up to the top of the hill where it spills over calmly, an eternal spring where life can bloom," Ajal explained.

He looked down and smiled as he dipped his hand into the lukewarm water, the water rippled, but the image of his hand didn't distort. He noticed that he couldn't see the reflection of his face, only Ava's. The water suddenly rippled violently as the blue haired child Ryu jumped in.

"Ryu's here?" Ajal turned to see all of his team approach.

'I don't remember this... wait... this isn't right...'

The sound of a blade dragged against its sheath, Ajal looked up to see Gale draw his blade, his expression remained unnervingly calm. 'Ah... that's right...' Ajal began to remember what they did to him.

"Why did you do it... why did you try to kill me," Ajal asked.

Gale swung his blade, he felt nothing, the blade passed right through him, but to his surprise he saw himself fall over face first into the grass, a puddle of red blood formed underneath Ajal's body. Ajal looked down at his own body on the ground before he looked at his hands, he had white sleeves. He looked down to see he had worn a white Imperial uniform rather than a black one. 'This is... the emperor's clothing?' Ajal looked up at Gale who walked towards him, only to walk right through Ajal as if he wasn't even there. All of the members of his team had walked past him.

"Enma... Aria... Crystal... Kono... Titan... Ryu... Kadyr... Ava..." he called their names but they each ignored him.

"Why... why didn't you say anything," Ajal asked, his voice cracked slightly.

In the center of the lake was the small island, a single oak tree stood tall, Gale sliced the stump in two, it cracked as it fell over, the leaves rustled and rattled as they fell into the water or hit the ground. The water of the lake was no longer clear, Ajal looked down at the water and saw a reflection, rather than himself, he saw a dignified white haired man who wore the Imperial Uniform given to the emperor of Imperion.

"Shin?" Ajal uttered.

He watched the mouth of the reflection move to repeat the same words, Ajal's heart began to beat rapidly.

***

"Ah!" Ajal suddenly woke up.

He looked out of the caravan and noticed it had become dark, the sky was black, and it was much colder than earlier.

"Bad dream?" Eckleflor asked suddenly.

He and Eckleflor were the only people who were still awake in the caravan. Jack was unconscious again, George and Reinhardt snored equally loud. He could hear a faint conversation between Sarah and Adam from the front of the caravan.

"Yeah..." Ajal touched his forehead, wiping sweat with the tips of his fingers. "Really bad..." Ajal added.

'I'll- just stay awake...' Ajal shifted a little bit in place, 'It's way too cramped in here though...' Eckleflor looked uncomfortable as well while he held a slumbering child in his hand. He had a strange focus on Jack's pocket, Ajal noticed him glance at it multiple times.

Reinhardt held two other children, his mouth hung open while he snored. Jack's eyes were closed, he had leaned on Ajal at some point, 'You better apologize for the damn blood you're getting on me...' George held two of the children 'They're resting on his stomach...' Ajal observed. John held one while he leaned on George 'He's also resting on his stomach...'

Franklin had his head against the wood while he held one child, he was practically asleep and hitting his head on the wood of the caravan each time it rocked or shook 'How is he sleeping through that?'

Ajal smiled looking at the people in the caravan, but seeing all of them only reminded Ajal of the friends he once had. He rested his head against the wood once more, a cold shiver down his spine reminded him of his loneliness. As he tried to fall back to sleep he could only focus on thoughts 'This isn't my home... but... is Imperion even my home anymore... where do I belong?'

Ajal shook his head awake once more as he tried to sleep. 'Damn...' Ajal looked down at Jack who seemed to sleep so easily and he felt a little envious.

'He looked at me weird when I was teaching spirit arts, almost like he saw aura... but... that would require level six... I wonder if he's a natural. But that doesn't explain why no one seems to know about spirit arts, it's so simple and useful... and why are these people called non-unified? They look human... what the hell is happening on this planet...'