by Harlon Banks
Jonath,
Get inside or find a shelter if you're out in the open. Forgot to tell you last night that when the bell tolls it marks what's called the The Challenger. I'd highly suggest you get inside.
Jonath squinted at the message. The The Challenger? The hell was that? Why was this so important? Why didn't Jeremy just tell him what that was and left the text all cryptic like!? Growling annoyed Jonath slid the phone back into his pocket without even sending a reply. Talking to that man was kind of irritating at some times, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he walked forward.
"This place is so wei-"
As Jonath said that his words fell mute as his eyes opened and saw complete darkness...
Complete... Utter... Darkness...
Pitch black outside to the point Jonath couldn't even see two feet in front of him. When the hell did... What!? Why was it so dark!? He looked skyward and saw nothing but a void of blackness where the full and rather large luminous moon once sat high in the heavens. Pitch black inky darkness, accompanied by an increasing feeling of dread creeping up his spine as he looked around unable to see anything, not even the lights from the buildings all around him despite being right in the courtyard. The lampposts around had disappeared as if they were snuffed out, any lights that once emanated from the windows of the Group buildings no longer could be seen either...
"What the hell is going on!?" Jonath kept his calm despite this ominous situation he were in, pulling out his phone again to see if the screen lit up showing any light source only to find that even the phone right in his face, despite hitting the unlock button multiple times never lit up showing him the home screen. It's as if the darkness around him wasn't natural, but a thick blanket of intangible abyss that shrouded everything in sight around him in a thick veil of black completely devouring the smallest source of light. He took a step forward cautiously to see if the ground was still beneath his feet, relieved when it became clear the only thing that seemed to change around him was the lack of sight.
The sound of child like laughing made Jonath's skin crawl... quickly spinning off his foot eyes wide and staring into the void of nothingness while tensed up. That sounded too close, extremely close... as if a child had run right by him laughing and giggling in the blackness. Was he starting to hallucinate or something?
"Dad come on! We're almost through the Irelight!" a boy spoke in an energetic tone causing Jonath to cant his head to the left when he heard that, yet he saw nothing with his pale eyes. A queasy feeling churning in the pit of his stomach from this strange sensation of anxiety and confusion washing over his body. There were people inside of this blanket of black? Yet, they couldn't be seen... were they real? Or was it all a trick?
"The Irelight is so pretty! Not much longer till we cross over though! Come on babe hurry up!"
Another voice, another veer of the his attention straight ahead this time. 'Irelight', what is an Irelight? Is it tied to the The Challenger Jeremy had mentioned? How long was this going to be going on!? As Jonath pondered these questions he was unaware of the shift in the energy flowing through his eyes. Rounded pupils arced into crescent moon shapes, the curve of both facing Jonath's left as the outer ring of his Melissaes began to emanate a soft glow and the canvas of his pale Melissaes looked like an endless expanse of silver energy. Everything soon coming into shape now...
Jonath was standing in the same courtyard, amidst the inky blackness yet, he could see now. Everything viewed in a monotone grey scale. The buildings, the grass, the sky, everything save for several apparitions that matched the voices of two children and a couple among several more sparse humanoid figures color coded a blue tint and walking towards what looked like a rift in reality at the far end of the courtyard. The air itself looked distorted, saturated by warped essence to the point it looked like you could reach out and grab it and everything gave off a vibe of bleakness and emptiness. What was this place?
Jonath blinked when two spirits walked through his body apparently not having even noticed him and continued on their way towards the rift. The voices of laughing and chatter growing ever so distant as upon reaching that rift, the spirits disappeared never to be seen again. Too confused to do anything other than stand their in silence, awe, and disbelief at what was going on; an extremely sharp pain that shot through Jonath's skull caused him to yelp and hold his face in pain. As if a nail had just been driven into both eyes, he slumped to his knees trying his hardest not to scream out in pain.
"No!" Jonath groaned fighting back wanting to rip his eyes out of their sockets to ease the trauma hammering them. "Not again goddammit! What the hell is going on with me!?" He cursed as his fingers curled towards his eyes as if his body was just wanting to rip them out regardless of his consciousness trying to stop it. It hurt... It hurt so bad! Bloody tears starting to run down his cheeks as he lowered his hands to the ground to support himself and sat prostrated with his forehead on the stone and nails scratching at the rocks. His eyes shutting as he opened his mouth to finally give in and scream into the atmosphere of this strange illusionary spirit realm...
The clock tower bell ominously tolls again... Ring... Ring... Ring...
Jonath opened his eyes and everything was back to normal. His head raising to look around with warm blood staining his features that leaked from his reddened eyes that had returned to their normal pale appearance. The full moon was in sight again, the courtyard looked normal, and people were starting to peer out of their windows and doors to see if everything had truly returned to normal. The platinum haired man quickly scooping himself off the ground and darting into a small alley in the corner of the courtyard before he were seen. His back slamming against the stone wall of the building as left hand reached up to cradle the left side of his face as contracted pupils stared into space and his breathing grew shaky.
The bell tolls once more.. and then ceased to ring... Leaving an unnerved and confused Jonath in a dark alley contemplating everything that just happened and ever since he awoke, once again in extreme detail. His eyes staring into the palm of his blood stained right hand watching his torn nails from scratching the ground so hard simply heal themselves over good as new like it was nothing. Such strange powers he possessed, and yet he knew nothing at all about them or what had just happened...
"The Challenger... Irelight..." Jonath repeated quietly to himself as he wiped his bloody eyes across his sleeve and regained his composure. Glancing off to the building he had planned to go to before that experience happened and watching the courtyard become populated with people again acting strangely like nothing happened... Standing in silence for a minute or so, Jonath slid his hands into his pockets and headed towards the library once more with more determination than before in his eyes.
"Getting tired of this shit.." He said annoyed to himself.
Reverie Library 2
The Challenger Chapter Six - Reverie Library 2
Among the dim reading light and tall black wood bookcases stocked with books of all sizes and thickness, amidst the stone grey walls and many tables and narrow isles where students of the Archive and civilians alike moved in silence around the large library; sat Jonath at a table by his lonesome with several books sprawled out and stacked around him numbering five in total as well as an open notebook with a pen and several notes scribbled fancy across the paper with his left hand as he read through the texts. Two of the books which were also the thickest, had hard back black picture and text lacking covers with the only writing on their outer shell being written along the spines that read "Nyurna Calendar & Timeline Codex" and "A brief history of Kynerva, the Nocturnal Continent." Both open side by side before him with the remaining three stacked beside him to the right. Their covers in order from top to bottom being red, grey and violet.
Jonath had been here a couple of hours now just soaking in all the information he could; his eyes periodically showing discomfort from reading so long forcing him to occasionally take breaks to r
ub his face. The atmosphere of the library couldn't be more perfect for his gluttony for reading as well, dim lights that calmed the mood coupled with blissful silence save the occasional whispering of students passing here and there or the intercom pinging and quietly asking for staff support. The tall bookcases surrounding his circular table giving a sense of solidarity for him as well which made focus all the better. Pressing pen to pad again, Jonath jotted down a couple more notes having just now finished his third full-page of writing. Mumbling something to himself that was unable to be deciphered by anyone around as he wrote and wrote away. That mumbling soon transforming into coherent sentences as he reread over his notes and the books open before him.
"This is the Astra month, the twelfth and last month of the Luminous Year 1654 and the era I'm in now is known as the Luminous Era which started promptly at the end of the Lunar Era at UY 1401 to today. I wonder if I got all that right?" Jonath pondered the question as he glanced back at the books for confirmation. A small nod following upon verifying his own answer like a student using their notes to pass an exam. His pale eyes soon peering up at the clock on the wall next to him right above a book-case; damn. It was almost noon already? He'd been here several hours reading and writing yet it sure didn't feel like it. "I guess time flies when you're doing something you're actually interested in... I should get going though after checking out a few of these books to read at home." He yawned stretching as he stood up and closed the reading materials. Stacking each book on top of one another neatly and sliding the notebook and pen into a dirty grey colored Messenger bag he'd purchased at the front while picking up the stack of books and heading towards the front and the checkout desk.
He'd occasionally glance around, watching other people quietly traverse the isles or study together at circular tables littered with notes and reading materials while they whispered questions to one another. This place was a lot more inviting than he thought it'd be, this would make a great hangout spot for him in the future if he just wanted to be by himself and mull over troubling thoughts. One of those thoughts being there was no books that explained anything about an 'Irelight' that he heard one of those apparitions talk about when he was lost in the darkness outside earlier. That fact alone unsettling him greatly just because it was something nobody apparently knew anything about... the way the librarian responded to him when he asked about the Irelight floated through his mind again.
"I'm sorry, we don't have anything about an Irelight here."
The more he thought about it the more he noticed how interestingly that response was worded...
Either way, a lack of material that directly explained to him what an Irelight was, was kind of disappointing. The only other hint that what he heard wasn't just hit mind playing tricks on him being he did infact at one point find a book that mentioned something about the bell tolls being the warning for a "The Challenger" yet upon further research all the book had to say despite being almost a hundred pages in length, was the The Challenger was simply a phenomena upon which all natural light outside under the gaze of the full moon vanished instantly for random periods of time. That and the bell he heard was made of a special alloy infused with energy that could somehow sense when the The Challenger would happen and thus ring itself with a booming baritone to warn the natives and finally that this has been a random occurrence for the past ten years, however the bell was ringing more often nowadays which kind of concerned him. If he were out in the wilds and this phenomena happened he'd be pretty fucked just standing out there in total darkness.
He should probably stop thinking about it, honestly.
"Yeah I'm here to check out these books." Jonath said stopping at the front desk and placing the stack down on front of a youthful looking young man with shoulder length disheveled black hair, dark-skinned and hazel eyes wearing a casual red tee, cargo shorts and sneakers. He looked like he belonged in middle school the more Jonath looked at him.
"No problem!" The boy's tone voice even sounded prepubescent as if he were someone's child just watching the front while they were away. Hands idling in his own pockets as Jonath watched each books bar code get scanned and placed back down and nodding when the kid asked if Jonath found everything ok. Soon afterwards tilting his head upon revelation, this wasn't the person he talked to earlier about information on the Irelight. He wondered if there was any relation between the two.
"What happened to that girl with the long cyan blue hair and eyes?" Jonath described the woman he'd talked to earlier with a curious tone to his voice. The boy upon finishing with the books tilted his head with wide hazel eyes focusing on Jonath a moment; eventually rocking in his seat with a smile as he replied in a cheery tone which once again, confirmed he was actually a small kid filling in while whoever was here earlier went to do something.
"Oh! That was Dal! She went to take some papers to the Group office. We're looking for a few people to run a job for us outside the city heading south towards a small village beyond the Luminous Forest." The boy answered pushing the books towards Jonath who then picked them up and stashed them in his messenger bag while he narrowed his eyes over the response. Looking for a few people to head out the city on a job huh?
"What kind of job is it?" The amnesic asked despite not really being all that interested in the answer, merely trying to for some reason make the stashing away of his books less awkward than not saying anything and just walking away. The boy's eyes widening again, hands reaching under the desk rummaging through what sounded like papers and stationary as he spoke with a pep to his tone that was kind of on the dramatic side of enthusiasm. It kind of made Jonath furrow a brow a bit creeped out by how energetically happy the kid was to be talking to him in a library of all places when usually one would expect librarians to be the silent types given the environment they worked in.
"The Archive Group focuses on amassing knowledge both historical and new around the clock all days of the week! We've been around for about fifty years now around the start of the Luminous Era and since then have recruited many types seeking to be adventurous and scholarly to help us build up our wealth of information. Here look at this! I have one of the flyers Dal left!" He exclaimed which caused a few students nearby at a table studying to glance his way annoyed. "Oops! Sorry!" he apologized sheepishly while handing Jonath the flyer. The parchment was on worn and an aged yellow coloration fabric to give it a weathered look like some treasure map. His pale eyes looking at the thick black lettered headline at the top of the page that read in bold lettering Archives Group Recruitment Form!
"I thought this was a flyer for a job not a recruitment form?" Jonath furrowed his brow glancing down at the boy.
"Oh we only are allowed to contract jobs to students of the Group or part-time assistants. Liability claims and all haha." He chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with closed eyes and an embarrassed smile over the fact he should've mentioned that earlier. "In the past we used to let strangers come do jobs for us, all Groups did but then well... the jobs got kinda dangerous and people started dying on expeditions so now we have a law that only allows us to either use our own members or contract the mercenary Group. Or we can through contract sign temporary people for jobs if they can show they're capable for the task. Why do you ask? Are you interested in applying for a membership or part-time contract?" He raised his voice again getting excited which promptly got an eraser tossed at his head from the students nearby. An eraser that surprisingly got caught mid-flight in Jonath's right hand without the young man even realizing he had done that.
"It's not nice to throw things at children, don't try that again." Jonath warned with an annoyed glare over his shoulder at the study group while the boy blinked a bit amazed and surprised at him. The students mumbling something to themselves but doing nothing else, their eraser soon getting casually tossed back at them as Jonath turned his attention back to the kid. "Do people do that a lot to you? The jackass moves like throwing erasers and stuff?" He asked a bit concerned now as his right ha
nd which caught the eraser moved back to the pockets of his black pants. The response being a lackadaisical shrug and a hushed tone.
"Sometimes... I'm not liked much around here. Dal tends to keep them from doing that when she's around but when she leaves me here to look after the desk they can get a little bold." The boy said lowering his head and losing all enthusiasm to his voice. Jonath stared in silence for a moment, multiple thoughts running through his mind as he glanced back at the flyer and then recalled Jeremy saying something about him getting a job soon. A deep inhale, and Jonath spoke.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind signing up for a part-time job with your Group. Though, I have a question and I want you to be completely honest with me before I fill out this form." Jonath said lowering his voice from the regular speaking level to more of a whisper near the end as he laid the flyer across the black wood desk. The dark-skinned pre-teen blinking and slowly nodding his head in response. Jonath didn't expect much of a useful response from asking this but he had to exhaust every opportunity presented to him.
"You know what the Irelight is? Or have any idea where I can get any information about it from?" He inquired, eyes narrowing again in anticipation for a useless answer all the same making him wonder once again if this was even worth the words. He was asking a kid, a kid that apparently was just a placeholder for Dal when she left to do whatever it was she does. What would he know about an Irelight when he probably wasn't even out of middle school?