by Harlon Banks
"Things just got more complicated... It's always something." He cursed huffing to himself.
Long Way Back
A/N - Drew a better picture of Jonath by the way. Yes, I'm aware it's animeish. As always gotta put "tinyurl" with the below cause this site keeps deleting it.
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The Challenger Chapter Twenty One - Long Way Back
Jonath had walked for an hour now across the grassy valley on his way to the city again. His throat was dry from thirst and his stomach rumbling from hunger; his legs sore from fatigue and his eyes heavy from sleepiness. He felt like shit through and through at this point and he still had a several hour walk if not an entire day till he reached the city gates. With no phone or any way to contact anybody nor having any transportation, things looked rather awful for him. Tired eyes looking up at the moon shining overhead, the fleeting clouds moving away into the distance. This everlasting night was irritating to witness... He was tired of looking at darkness nonstop everywhere he went already.
A whistling wind graces his body fluttering hair bangs and torn clothes; the knee-high grass at his feet being crunched underneath combat boots and flattened. A long, quiet, exasperate exhale left his pale lips and his eyes closed to rest for a minute or so as he walked. The air was warm despite it being night, the weather patterns of this land strange as ever to him like usual. Eyes opening again to glance off to the right many ways down at the noise of bellowing mammoths in the distance fighting over a watering hole. Their titanic clashing of tusks and massive bodies booming all the way over to him as shaggy brown furred behemoths fought for dominance.
"Worst case scenario I'll probably have to find some shallow ditch or something to rest in... I'm so tired..." Jonath muttered to himself as he had to force his body to move despite his mind wanting to just collapse in the grass and sleep for a good few hours. All that fighting that happened in the underground city really wore him out, not even counting the mental stress of everything else that transpired. From those snakes ambushing him to Liariana's betrayal, to his powers activating again and up to the point he'd seen those dead bodies both in the distortion field and at the tree line of the forest. It all was just a lot to take in on top of his exhausted physical state. He didn't even try thinking about what he were gonna do after finding Jeremy again in the apartment, that could wait.
Right now Jonath just wanted to pass out... He wanted to sleep so badly it was unbearable, but he couldn't. Not yet, not yet...
The night dragged on forevermore...
His legs and arms felt as if they were filled with lead; his eyes barely able to stay open and his throat dryer than a desert. Where was all of this fatigue coming from? He was just fine when he had escaped that barrier all the way until he hit the tree line of the forest. Delayed exhaustion? A snort of disbelief leaving his nose as he thought silently to himself about standing right before the warm bed of his room in Jeremy's house and just passing out to sleep. Even if that wasn't going to happen for another several hours of walking at this rate... It was the only thing that made him come this far.
Open winds gracing his weary features periodically as boots crunched grass beneath his feet and the night dragged forever on, Jonath continued walking and walking and walking... One hour became two hours. Two hours became three hours... The city getting closer and closer but still looking too far away to ever reach. The small streams of water he'd passed blessed his throat with much-needed hydration and kept him going this long; but at this point something to drink was no longer staving off his fatigue. He needed rest, his body couldn't last much longer.
He was at his limit.
Looking up to the moon above one last time with pale eyes peering through silver white bangs of hair; Jonath collapsed into the grass face first and fell unconscious from exhaustion. The tall grasses obscuring his body from sight yet not masking his smell from any nearby predatory beasts that may have looked for a quick meal. An eerie howl of another pack of wolves echoes in the distance beyond from the forest; the crying canines voices reaching all across the vast landscape with powerful delivery.
All Jonath dreamed of was darkness... Eventually waking up to the rocking of what felt like a carriage deck... Wait...
He was moving again?
His eyes cringed a bit and his nose crinkled; a gasp escaping his throat as he suddenly lurched upright in a sitting position. Wide eyes looking around hastily as he sat upon the back of a horse-drawn wooden buggy casually trotting across the flat lands of the valley. The deck was wide and spacious, long seating areas on opposite ends of the rectangular cart with a gated entrance opposite of him and a lone man sitting to his left drinking a dark liquid contained in a half-empty silver bottle and a wooden roofing overhead and something large wrapped up in cloth beyond him. A black cowl obscuring most of the strangers features save for his milky pale fingers that made him look like a ghost wrapped in the robes of death itself. Groggy eyes adjusting to the dimness around him as he grunted, the hooded man turned and spoke with a slight chuckle of amusement upon seeing him awaken.
"Sleep well? You been knocked out a couple of hours now." He asked in a calm, youthful voice belonging of a young man about early twenties. The amnesic turning to look over at him right as the stranger set the bottle down and reached up to pull off his hood. "Almost ran over you there on my way back to the city; probably shouldn't fall asleep in tall grass you know?" The mysterious man sneered as the hood was pulled away. The man looked young indeed, around Jonath's age but possibly two or three years older, that is if the amnesic knew how old he even was to begin with. Steel colored eyes across milky pale features and disheveled messy dark grey hair that looked more like dye than natural grey at a glance, but most definitely was the man's natural hair color.
"Sorry..." Jonath apologized as he went back to rubbing weary eyes, he still felt like shit. "I've had a rough night..." He mumbled vaguely recalling his body giving out under him before he'd fallen unconscious. Shrouded features watching him in quiet thought before lips parted to speak again.
"Rough night huh?" The stranger snorted amused at the choice of words Jonath used. "It's always night here my friend haven't you noticed?" He joked looking back to his side and picking up the half empty bottle of drink to take another swig as the carriage continued to gently rock and sway across the ground while it carried them. A long satisfying few seconds later, and the bottle was finished off and placed neatly into a bag by his feet. The entire time Jonath just eye rolled at the man being a smartass, not bothering to respond. He didn't need this now.
"I get what you mean though all the same. Just had to poke the sleeping giant a bit before I gave him some good news." The stranger gave a wide fun-loving smile as Jonath furrowed a brow at him hesitantly. Arm lowering from his face back to his side as he kept his eyes on the mysterious man before him... Good news?
"What would that good news be?" He responded dryly sarcastic and quickly got a reply immediately after the last word left his lips. His eyes wandering around and focusing on a large two-handed sword propped up by the barrier at the other end of the deck that he didn't really notice earlier. Eyes narrowing a bit as he examined this blade but his vision was a bit too blurry to make out any details; it would seem his eyesight had deteriorated a bit from the powers he used, hopefully they healed up too. Regardless the stranger let out a relaxed chuckle and spoke with friendly yet shady vigor.
"The good news is I'm not kidnapping you to sell you on the black market as a slave or something." The stranger stood as he said this and began walking around the carriage deck not impeded by the constant rocking and swaying of it in motion. Hands gesturing beneath his dusty black cloak that even obscured his shoes from view as he spoke. "I mean, I could do that, ya look like a pretty boy... but I have integrity unfortunately. So nah I'm gonna forsake my evil intentions and actually giving you a free ride to Luminous City cause I'm such a good Samaritan. No need to thank me." He shrugged nonchalantly glancing Jonath's way.
&nb
sp; The amnesic a bit dumbfounded by what he was hearing... A random person decided to just pick his unconscious body up and take him to the city for nothing in return? That sounded shady; especially with how this man was talking about it too. Steel colored eyes meeting pale momentarily as Jonath's hesitation was displayed only through that brief staring, telling the stranger all he needed to know as he waved dismissively with a sigh.
"I'm being truthful. I just feel like doing a good deed today in hopes of karma helping me out in the future you know? Consider it a gesture of good faith in the Gods for doing the right thing." He sneered pacing back and forth across the narrow flooring between the seats. The smile across his lips was rather unintentionally unsettling.
"So you're only helping me out in hopes of getting blessed by some luck in the future? That doesn't sound stupid at all." Jonath said with an eye roll and a huff. The man across from him turning from his pacing momentarily to look upon the seated one with a sneer and a slight nod of his head in agreement.
"Basically, yeah." The young stranger responded with a lackadaisical shrug of his shoulders. His soft looking disheveled grey hair on his head clinging to portions of his cheeks and looking dirty and rough upon closer inspection. His face looked a bit filthy too with vague patches of caked on debris stuck to his flesh in the form of light grey dirt and grime; this man looked like he'd been living in the middle of nowhere for a while or was on the run... Wasting he a criminal? If so...
"If it doesn't work out that way then I just accept I'm probably a dumbass and keep it moving. I like to be optimistic though you know?" He chuckled again before perking up a bit and sending a shady (if though unintentionally) smile towards Jonath that only further made the amnesic wary of the man.
The two went silent and simply stared at each other for a few seconds in awkward quiet. The carriage rocking back and forth gently and slowly as neither said a word and only made eye contact as if lost for conversation.
"Ah!" The stranger finally broke the uncomfortable quiet with another relaxed smile. "I think it'll be less awkward if I told you my name huh? Break the ice a bit yeah?" He paused tilting his head and narrowing his eyes in quiet thought. "Although I guess since you already look like you think I'm gonna slit your throat or follow you home or something that you may as well believe I'm lying if I told you my name I guess..." He paused again raising a finger to his chin. The later reveal of his right forearm from beneath the cloak implied the man was rather toned and muscular if not deceptively slim; his hand, wrist and arm were covered in a couple of light slash wounds that seemed to have scarred over by now. Some longer and deeper than the others which raised the question of how he got those...
Regardless, Jonath didn't really care right now; long as this man kept true to his word there shouldn't be any problems just sitting around till they reached the city. His eyes glancing back off to that large blade wrapped in cloth by the gate of the cart. His vision having recovered enough to make out that the weapon looked rather odd; although he couldn't see much aside from the hilt with it being wrapped in thick white cloth. From what he could tell though was the blade itself was long, probably almost as long as Jonath was tall if he were to stand up, and slightly broad. A large bulky irregular shaped mass hidden under the cloth was around the same place where the blade met the hilt yet the real hilt protruded from the cloth itself; said hilt being a long piece of metal wrapped tightly in black wrappings and possessing a pommel that looked as if it were the housing for something not present in the gap he were looking at.
Such a strange-looking blade accompanied by a mysterious stranger carting Jonath towards the city... Pale eyes looking back towards the man who apparently noticed his sword getting looked at and stayed quiet till Jonath had finished his appraisal. A toothy sneer creasing his lips as he gestured his dirty head over at the sword propped up at the end behind him and spoke right as the cart rocked a bit more heavily than normal.
"That swords something I got during my travels around Kynerva. It's pretty banged up so you don't have to feel threatened I'll use it to cut ya in half or something." He sighed lowering his gaze, closing his eyes and shaking his head a bit offended. "Relax kid I'm not going to hurt ya, don't know why you're so paranoid about me. Giving you a ride for God's sake." He deadpanned off to the side with stale steel hues. Jonath deadpanning at him as well and was about to say he didn't say anything about being scared, but dropped the subject altogether. Rubbing the back of his head with fingers tracing through silver white hair as he cleared his throat.
"You still haven't told me your name like you initially were going to. That'd be a good start to easing my wariness." The amnesic said quietly. The strangers gaze locking back on him and quickly followed by a nod and a sheepish chuckle.
"Right. Right. Slipped my mind for a moment." He mumbled tilting his head in thought and once again looking as if he were going to distract himself away from the topic again. "Anyway I'm Blade. Who might you be?" He paused awaiting Jonath's response. Jonath lowering his gaze and looking off to the side in silence momentarily, but eventually responding.
"Jon." He answered.
"Jon?" Blade tilted his head a bit taken aback by the name. "Huh... That actually sounds pretty cool." He nodded slightly and sat back down on the bench with a satisfied exhale, eyes looking at the floor. "Well then Jon, now that introductions are out-of-the-way I feel this trip will be a lot less awkward. I save you from being eaten by predators cause I'm a swell individual; who knows we might meet again in the future and you wound up saving me, karma right?" He chuckled glancing Jonath's way. Jonath nodding back thinking nothing of what he'd just said.
"Maybe." He sighed hand moving to comfort the headache throbbing within his skull as the cart rocked again crossing over a small pothole in the earth. Blade standing up and walking towards the gate of the cart to stand on it and peer out around the wooden roofing and walls around them to look ahead. The entire time he was doing that, Jonath were staring at the space between his now crossed legs with narrowed eyes in deep thought about what he were going to do once he reached the city; especially when he talks to Jeremy or if he were to run into Liariana again...
Should he actually go to Wren first? The law enforcement? Look for Liariana? Should he say anything at all? He didn't know... It was all so much to try to work out in the limited time he had to come up with a game plan.
The sound of a fist being banged on wood snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Blade looking at him halfway outside the safety of the cart.
"End of the line my friend, we're pulling up on the jewel of Kynerva."
Guess Jonath had less time than he thought... Jeremy it was then.
A Serious Conversation
A/N - Decided to turn this story from a casual hobby into a massive project I'm committed to undertaking. Thus 'The Challenger' is head down the route of a franchise story so to speak so expect spin offs regarding certain characters, side plots and all the like that all intertwine into the main story as seamless as possible. Once again to all those who have read this far thank you for your support (especially the follows, favs and reviews!). It helps motivate me to keep this story going with frequent updates (though I plan to do that anyway).
Enjoy the chapter! Stay tuned for upcoming spin offs and other side projects as well coming that'll be headlined in the A/N.
The Challenger Chapter Twenty-Two: A Serious Conversation
Blade grunted lifting the heavy two-handed great sword wrapped in cloth over his shoulder; despite its weight he seemed to have no problem wielding it in one hand. The imposing blade wrapped in cloth looked even larger when rested across his shoulder implying quite easily how physically strong Blade was despite his lean frame. Grey eyes looking over to Jonath with a tilt of his head at the young man already walking away in an apparent rush through the gates.
"Yo, Jon!" Blade called out, Jonath stopping and looking over his shoulder with an impatient yet calm stare. Blade could call the guy rude for jus
t walking off after having given him a ride here, but he didn't really see a point in doing so. Instead using his free hand Blade chucked up two fingers in a farewell gesture and nodded his head slightly. "Don't pass out again yeah?" He sneered. Jonath snorting at him but quickly giving his own two finger salute farewell and breaking off into a light jog through the crowds of people. A loud yawn leaving Blade' lips and he exhaled before tossing a bag of money to the carriage driver and toting the large sword off with him somewhere else in the city.
"Here's hoping karma actually does her part. I hate getting stiffed." He thought to himself tiredly as he vanished among the busy workers district. Panning away from the two opposite going young men, the moon above continues to forever blanket the city of Luminous in its light.