The Challenger

by Harlon Banks

  He turned the phone around to look at the touch screen, sure enough there was a black rectangular label followed by his results from the tests. He had scored noticeably high on the written exam, higher than he thought he would. His combat results were a bit of an anomaly though...

  Instead of a numerical score or a letter grade there were simply a series of question marks, three to be exact. His eyes narrowing in confusion, that was very strange. Did anybody else have something like this? At least he didn't fail like that one person, right? Below the rating was also a message in small, black digital print.

  This user is unable to accept jobs at this time.

  "Your combat rating has question marks, could they not grade it or something?" Wrain raised his hand to his chin as he tried to make sense of it. He didn't seem all too bothered Jonath was ranked higher than him, unlike Delaren. Cyan blue eyes looking up to the amnesic and then back into space. Lee meanwhile had a more calculated expression in his eyes, a look that seemed more insightful about the situation. Hands idled in pockets as he hummed silently to himself and then cleared his throat to speak.

  "I'm almost positive that your ranking as Black wasn't because of your combat strength. I'm sure it's pretty safe to say that I'm stronger than you yet I have a lower ranking." He said with a blunt tone, Jonath narrowed his eyes at him momentarily but didn't do much else. Lee was probably right all things considered. Hell Jonath doubted he could take Delaren or Wrain on either in a straight up fight given their power sets yet alone people like Melissa or Kelgard. He didn't even know all of what he could do himself, so him having the highest ranking was rather perplexing and outright made him think there was an error somewhere. He looked back down at his phone, those three question marks where his score should be only making him more and more confused by the second.

  "The aura you released before you lost however was rather dense and potent."

  Orath's calm words snapped him out of his thinking. Lee and Wrain also turning to give her their attention as she brushed away the bangs that threatened to obscure her left eye from view as she continued.

  "I'd assume you're rated as incapable of being evaluated at this time given your polar opposite behaviors you showed during your bout. The text beneath the rating seems to confirm this. Your aura is rather dense and ominous, your reflexes and reaction times are exceptional even among Nightborn standards and the physical capabilities you showcased against Kelgard were rather impressive. However you were lacking in offensive pressure rather extensively and had your opponent dominating you most of the fight. Your instincts are more developed than your consciousness thus you throw yourself off-balance." She paused, letting that sink into his head as Wrain nodded slightly in agreement. Turning his gaze to Jonath as well and taking it upon himself to finish Orath's thoughts for her.

  "It's probably them giving you a Black label as a placeholder. Only reason I'd imagine your score would have 'unknown' basically being the rating." He thumbed behind him at Min walking up on the stage again to speak. Jonath's gaze following his pointing to her as well.

  "Guess she'll get around to explaining it." Wrain remarked, all of them turning their attention to Min. Jonath's phone ringing as a text came through, his hand fumbling around in his pocket again as he brought it out and quickly glanced over the message. It was from Kayda...

  I got a red ranking. Hope you got a better one than me.

  Jonath actually felt a bit upset when he read that message... Kayde must have felt worse. Looking around for her among the crowd he couldn't single her out, even when looking for her by her stormy grey hair. Did she decide to stay in her room? Damn... No doubt her loss against Lee was what crippled her score so heavily, poor girl. He'll try to cheer her up a bit next he sees her.

  Sorry to hear, but don't sweat it. I'll talk to you later, Min is about to speak.

  Pressing send Jonath stashed away the phone right as the dark-skinned and yellow eyed woman cleared her throat and outstretched her hands greeting them all with a sharp, anticipating smile! The crowd of gathered Nightborn going silent, Jonath hoping Kayda wouldn't get in trouble for deciding to skip out on this meeting. He couldn't blame her though. With people like Melissa and Delaren around who readily seem to bully others it's no surprise she opted to just stay away for the moment. Pushing away any concerns about her to pay attention now though, Jonath's pale hued gaze focused on Min as he took in everything she was about to say.

  The moonlight above was brighter than ever, the glowing forest that surrounded them blowing the scent of grass and brush in with the chirping of birds and crickets with every breeze.

  "Welcome back!" Min greeted with friendly demeanor, her attire once again a standard military get up (without the hat) and those four pistols strapped to her thighs again that always drew Jonath's attention. It was as if she were expecting a recruit to get out of line and put a bullet in their head the moment they made any suspicious moves. It made him feel rather uneasy...

  "I know you all don't care for another lecture and explanation on how this E-Chip business works so thankfully I'm not going to waste another chapter of your life with an explanation!" She chuckled only slightly breaking the fourth wall much to everyone else's ignorance. "All of that can be read about in the app anyway under the help me section, which you all can read on your own time. Once we're done here you're free to accept work effective immediately if you want." She paused waving off what everyone thought she were gonna do.

  "However I want to tell you all something you might be interested in..."

  Her demeanor grew a bit more excited, shakily so. Her eyes narrowed with an alluring gaze to her yellow hues, her lips pulled back revealing a heavily knowing smile, and her arms stretched out again at her sides in some grand reveal for what came out her mouth next.

  "How do you all feel about visiting some ruins in a week or so?"

  Jonath's eyes widened... No, not again...

  Coming back Full Circle

  A/N - Without further ado the new chapter is here! Thank you again all the readers whom have read this far and showed their support with reviews, favorites & follows. It really helps motivate me to keep going! Also thank you to that guest reviewer who alerted me of that chapter 3 mishap with the text format being all wonky. I went and fixed it, thank you!

  Enjoy the chapter! Next one should be coming weekly as usual.

  The Challenger Chapter Forty-Two: Coming back Full Circle...

  The moment he heard the word ruins a sick feeling churned in the depths of Jonath's stomach. Images and recollections of the bandits, those snake creatures, Liariana trying to murder him and those corpses all rushing through the back of his eyes in an unwanted collage of memories. If he recalled correctly also Wren said those ruins weren't the only ones around either across this vast crescent-shaped landscape. He now began to wonder what that artifact was again that Liariana had dropped off to the Group master. Why were these ruins important in the first place? Was he jumping the gun and these ruins probably weren't like the ones he saw? He hoped so yet at the same time he couldn't help but feel curiosity welling in him as well.

  Curiosity was known to kill the cat; he didn't want to test his fate anymore with wildcard adventures. Yet, he didn't seem like he'd have much of a choice at this point given the circumstances. If he wanted to learn more about himself and his strange powers he had to use them in a live setting right? He couldn't just hide away behind his reluctance to endanger himself like he wanted to. Being a sissy wasn't going to do anything other than make him a laughing-stock to his peers. A scoff and a shake of his head, Jonath breathed out quietly and looked up at Min with the rest of the bunch to hear what she had to say. Hopefully she elaborated on what his unverifiable Black Label ranking meant. He had to admit he also was curious about the one who failed and the last Black ranked Nightborn.

  "The ruins that I am talking about were discovered just yesterday and were personally revealed to us by the Archive Group master Wren." Min elaborated with period
ical hand gestures as she went on and explained what the Group was and how they contracted those from mercenaries, to random people to those like them here at this facility. It was nothing Jonath hadn't heard before so he paid it no attention and glanced off to the side as her words became background noise. The image of that old, decrepit man who gave Jonath unnerving vibes every time they spoke flashing across his imagination again.

  Wren, there was no escaping this man was there? No matter what Jonath did it always seemed like that guy was pulling the strings of their encounters ever since they met at the courtyard. He had to know something about Jonath's amnesia, there was almost no chance he didn't know anything at this point. Jonath had to speak to him again, but what would he say? What if he were just over thinking and Wren was just trying to poke his brain for information? The man's comment about Jonath having suffered from 'memory fog' in the conceptual sense of lacking recollections of his past was the biggest hint the old guy knew something. Was that enough to jump the gun and demand he tell Jonath something useful? The cryptic way that guy spoke never ceased to annoy Jonath when they interacted. Was it even worth trying to force information out of him at this point?

  He didn't know, Wren was like Melissa in a sense that neither would tell him anything directly unless they actually felt like doing so. Having to play on their terms on his own humanity and past was rather annoying, he grew angrier the more he thought about it. Everything was being so difficult and every time he tried to figure something out ten more problems would pop up that warranted his attention.

  "So with all that said to put it simply Wren has given us a week to figure out who we will send to assist him on this expedition into the ruins." Min's words snapped him from his thoughts, eyes widening as he hitched a breath in his throat. Shit he missed too much of what she said! He didn't think she'd have gone into the requirements for taking the job so soon. Looking left and right quietly for someone to fill him in on what she said his pale eyes focused on Lee to the left whom happened to glance back at him in return, probably from catching the man's gaze out the corner of his fuchsia eyes.

  "Hey, I kind of spaced out for a moment in thought. What did she say about picking out people to go on the expedition?" Jon asked with a hushed voice as to not draw attention to the two. Lee rather nonchalantly answering him while still looking up at Min now talking about some other stuff about the ruins place being somewhere closer to the foot of the Astral Mountains.

  "Beyond the color label, Nightborn are ranked on a letter system in the E-Chip interface based on how many jobs they have taken and their overall completion of the job in question. Efficiency, tactics, collateral damage, casualty prevention and all the like." Lee answered briefly looking at Jonath before turning back to Min. "If you get grades normally outside of your color ranking you can upgrade in said color and eventually reach Black or downgrade to a lower color. You can sync up with up to three other Nightborn to help you out on any job as long as they're a label within your rank. The grading is less impactful the more people involved however." He paused letting Jonath have time to digest the information, hands idled in black pants pockets as spiky white hair swayed in the calm breeze that came.

  "Apparently this Wren guy wants nothing short of a Black Label to help with this expedition, which gives me the impression of it being highly dangerous. A bit of a strong start for us but I guess they had to start somewhere." Lee remarked, Jonath softening his stare momentarily as he looked off to the side. Nothing short of a Black huh? Given the circumstances behind his own label basically being the equivalent of a glorified place holder Jonath heavily doubted he'd be able to take part in this expedition. Not with the short amount of time predating it to prepare himself and try to gain some real mastery over his abilities. Maybe it was for the better when he thought about it, rushing into things for answers was something he was beginning to realizing was never the greatest approach to the problem. Looking back over to Lee with his features remaining visually unmoved by the explanation the amnesic further inquired.

  "You going to try to raise your label to Black and get into that expedition?"

  Lee side-eyed him with an apathetic expression that betrayed the words that came out of his mouth. The look in his eyes vaguely sharpened with seriousness.

  "Yeah, I've heard stories of ruins hidden away on Kynerva and always wanted to explore one to verify something..." He trailed off and never finished his reasoning behind it. Jon quickly deducing he didn't want to tell him about his underlying ambitions, glancing over at Orath on the opposite side of Lee next. The way she was looking at Min made it seem like she wasn't paying any attention to the two men's conversation. Jonath wanted to ask about where the both of them came from, the more he thought about it. The twins seemed to stand out the most from the rest of the Nightborn around with their demeanor. He recalled Melissa saying they were from some 'irrelevant village when she told him about them, was that really all there was to it?

  "Jonath!"

  Eyes bolted over to the stage when Min specifically called his name. It felt like an entire sea of eyes just focused on him shortly afterwards. His gaze staring into bright yellow hues as he managed to keep his calm attitude. A smile drawing back her lips, the dark-skinned woman gave him a look that implied it was nothing bad or embarrassing behind her calling him out. His eyes narrowing with slight hesitation in his stare, ignoring everyone else looking at him as she gestured for him to come to her.

  "I want you to hang back when everyone leaves, gotta talk to you." She said rather to the point, her hand that beckoned him then dismissing the rest of the thirty or so Nightborn around. "The rest of you are free now, go get a jump on the assignments to get your rankings up. The deadline is next week and time's a wasting. Once you've confirmed your job and any potential allies you want to link up with to enact them seek out the gate guards and they'll send you on your way. Once again welcome to Blackwater ladies and gents, let's make you earn your keep!"

  With this said everyone began to disperse, some grouping up as they walked to look over the available assignments like Lee and Orath. Others carrying on by their lonesome off back to their rooms to sleep such as Kelgard and Melissa. Delaren could be heard pushing some random people out of his way with an agitated vibe about him. Jonath waiting until the others had scattered a bit before approaching the stage as Min sat with legs dangling off the edge for him and stared with a smile. Soon enough it were just the two of them and a couple of soldiers behind her that did nothing more but stand guard, visors shrouding their masculine features as the curator addressed Jon.

  "You're probably wondering why you got a Black rank despite losing your fight right? Maybe wondering why you have the rank and can't even pick a job either?" She snickered knowingly. Jonath moving his hands to his pockets and casting his gaze off at the ground to his left a moment. He wanted to give her a smartass response along the lines of 'What do you think genius?' but held his tongue. Last thing he needed was to damage his standing with a woman toting four pistols strapped to her thighs, even if he knew she probably would pay his remark no mind.

  "Yeah, is it because I'm inconsistent with my powers?" He responded with a knowing exhale. Orath's reasoning seemed rather realistic, all things considered. Color him surprised when Min shook her head in disagreement and crossed her arms and legs with an anticipating chuckle. Her black hair sweeping over rich hued yellow eyes and tanned skin as she replied in a casual voice.

  "Not entirely, although that did play a pretty big part in you getting such an odd placing in the ranking." She shifted her posture to get more comfortable, zipping up her jacket higher as she continued on. "I looked into your records given to us by your guardian, Jeremy was the name yeah?" She paused with unsure visage, canting her head off to the side wondering if she got it right. Jonath meanwhile gaining a bit more investment in her words when she mentioned the old man; what did he have to do with this?

  "Anyway Jeremy's records were rather bare bones. Documented that he wasn't you
r kin by blood and kept the details of your relationship very vague." As she started delving into parts of his past Jonath felt very shaky about having people know in fear of misunderstandings, she tossed her hands up lackadaisical and huffed. "Normally we need a bit more details on who we're taking in so we know we're not dealing with some bloodthirsty murderer but reading what he put down piqued my curiosity." Min trailed off, lowering hands back to her thighs and leaning forward closer to the amnesic with an examining allure to her eyes that looked him up and down.

  "You apparently have been to similar ruins through Wren's contracting, right? Of course you have, because after I read the documents on you, specifically the part with how you finished a job for the Archive Group before coming here, and got a report from Wren about some new ruins being discovered not long after a certain artifact was delivered to him by two people..."

  Jonath felt a growing discomfort in his body, originating from his center as she kept getting more and more detailed...

  Min hopped up and walked towards Jonath, her shorter stature not imposing but still rather threatening when she entered his personal space, standing on the tips of her boots as she stared into his eyes. That smile growing more and more taunting the longer their gazes fixated on each other's.