The last time I took a plane anywhere. I was leaving my home of Nigeria and heading to my new home on Tarun Island. Now granted that flight was pretty nice, since most flights to the island on our private planes were oddly empty. However, now that I had the taste of first class, there was no way in hell I would ever ride coach class again. We landed in Dallas early that morning and instead of relaxing in the city like the other team was doing. (Something about Emily having a contact to help them there) We got right on board our flight from Dallas to Greece and then a train to where we needed to go.
Sparta.
Now I will admit, I thought that the entire city of Sparta had been lost to time. I assumed that like many ancient cities that collapsed, that it disappeared and could only be found in ruins. However, it turns out that Sparta had survived and had moved into the middle ages, and still stood strong into a bustling City that kept its name. Now we probably wouldn’t see any Spartan’s of old, but it would make this search even easier. Our mission was to go and find information that a philosopher named Adonis had written. A text that matched some kind of ruins of this ancient tower of babel. I was sure that Sarah would have loved a trip to Greece, and I would have loved her on this mission. That was the point of this mission for me, to protect Sarah while she did what she did best. I was sure that after a few days Olivia would regret not taking Sarah. Instead she took myself and Daniel on this trip, I didn’t see how this made the teams even. I was useless without Sarah.
“Are you gonna keep sighing or are you gonna get some sleep?” I looked across the way of our first class seats, which were more like small cots than actual seats. Olivia was directly to my left, currently dressed in long pajama pants and a t-shirt. Her seat pushed back so it looked more like a small bed rather than an actual chair. She lifted the sleeping mask over her face and rested a hand on her chin. “Do you want to talk about what is bothering you? I find talking about issues helps you relax. Take the burden off your shoulders.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” I said, looking at Daniel to see if he was asleep. At least I didn't want to keep him up, we had seats near the back of first class and the other four people that were in here with us had seats in the first half. My worries about keeping Daniel up were tossed away, the boy was busy on his Nintendo Switch, still playing Super Smash Brothers.
Olivia sat up from her seat moving to a sitting position. She waved over a flight attendant and a moment later we were brought two cups, Olivia’s smelling much stronger than mine “What is on your mind friend?”
“I am worried about Sarah,” I said, taking a small sip from my drink. I was a lightweight when it came to drinking, on Tarun once you turned 16 you could start drinking things that had 5 percent alcohol in them. Once you turned 17 you could start enjoying the good stuff. I could barely handle a freaking wine cooler sometimes. “I know she is gonna be safe with Emily and Unique by her side, but this wasn’t what I was expecting if I am being honest. I wanted to travel the world with her, be by her side as she made discoveries, watch her smile and grin as she explored. Probably scold her for getting lost or not listening.” I looked into this light green drink at my squirming reflection. “I wanted to protect her for this trip, and I get why we had to go into two teams. It’s just not what I was expecting.”
“What is the deal with you and Sarah?” Olivia asked. “You two are an odd pairing and no I am not talking about your different skin colors. I mean you two are always together, even in class when attending a few of our high level courses, you sit next to her. To take her to and from school, you attend all of her soccer games. Why are you two so attached at the hip?”
“Because for the longest time that was all we had was each other.” I answered. “We met in my home county of Nigeria, back then she was just a scared little girl who could speak any language with such a native tongue you would think she was from there. We both had the gift of jepei. I took care of her, learned to cook for her, learned to barter and trade for her. It was like that for two years until war broke out nearby. We were separated and I blamed myself, I was not quick enough and she was taken away. I found myself two counties over being molded into a solider, that was until my new mom found me and took me to the island. I will never forget on the first day of school, I heard someone yell my name. How fast Sarah sprinted towards me, the tears that could fill the Tigris and Euphrates. Now that she was back in my life, I was never gonna let her go. I would be there for her, she still needs me and I need her.”
“Why does she need you?”
“I am sure that you’ve noticed Sarah… tendencies?” That was the best way I could put my friend's mental state. “She is twelve years old but acts the same as when I met her seven years ago. She is trapped in her childlike mindset, so I gave Emily a list of things that sometimes bring the older Sarah out for a bit. However, something happened when we were separated, her mental state is not in a good place right now.”
Olivia spoke up after ordering another drink, much to my surprise. “She seems good to me, however I have only seen her in class or in the library. Sometimes when her team plays my brother’s in soccer. So I suppose I cannot talk much on the matter. How are you doing though?”
“What do you mean?”
“Xavier.” She began. “All you do is speak about Sarah, you want to be the one to protect her, you want to help her discover the world, you want to be by her side, you want to be there to scold her if she makes trouble. You talk about her mental state, but you rarely talk about yourself. What do you want from all of this? What do you want from your life? Who are you when you are not connected to Sarah Springchaser?”
“You make it sound like I need Sarah to survive.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow at me. “No, YOU make it sound like you need her to survive.” I opened my mouth to counter but no words came out. “Xavier, do not take this the wrong way. However, you need to stop punishing yourself for losing Sarah the first time. What happened in the past is what happened in the past. You seem to be putting her first because you feel like you owe her for what happened when you were separated. You blame yourself for what has happened in that head of hers, so now you want to be beside her cause you feel you have too.”
“It’s my fault that she was hurt very badly, so bad that she doesn’t even want to talk to me about what happened.” I felt tears starting to form in my eyes tears that I was not ashamed to let fall from my eyes. “I know that I need to stop relying on Sarah, but she brings out the best in me. Because I have to be the best me to protect her, I can’t let something bad happen to her. If she wasn’t traveling with Emily Walker then I would have brought her with us.”
I looked up at Olivia as she placed a hand on my shoulder. I found her kneeling in front of me, her lips curled up in a small smile. “Sarah is gonna be just fine, but if we are to get our job done and find what we need to find. I need you to be the best you can be, and I will be the best I can be, and I am sure Daniel will at least try to be the best he can be.” The boy in question removed one of his headphones to look at us. He raised his eyebrow in confusion before going back to his game. We looked at each other before sharing a small laugh. “Xaiver, don’t let your worries about Sarah keep holding you back. If you need someone to help bring the best out of you, I will gladly try my best to bring that side of you out.”
“Thank’s Olive.” She patted my shoulder once more before holding her drink up to me.
“Cheers to a new beginning.”
I let out a small chuckle as I tapped my glass against her. “I suppose cheers to new beginnings.”
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Turn’s out I was wrong about something. I had assumed that once we landed in Athens we would take a train to Sparta. Turns out there was no train that could take us there, so that was how I found myself taking the helm of our large escalade. It was actually not that bad of a drive, more or less a straight shot. I was a bit relieved to see Daniel had finally dozed off, the 15 year old barely slept to the point I was sure that he might be a vampire or something. It was around a two and half hour until we reached our destination. The City was absolutely amazing looking, I could only imagine what it might have looked like back in the time of the Spartan’s. After hours of driving on open roads and highways it was nice to see a steady supply of people and stores. Even though it was modern times, the city still seemed to take on a more ancient feeling. I don't know how to really explain it, it just felt that way. The only true downside was the very small number of jepei users, I had only seen a handful so far. After being on an island that was filled with them, it felt odd and lonely to not see that many in the city.
We eventually pulled into the parking lot of the hotel we would be staying at. A large space that was made of stone looking more like a castle than a hotel. We found out an interesting fact about Daniel, when that boy was knocked out he would stay asleep through thick and thin. So Olive had to sling him over one of her broad shoulders and carry the boy like a child through the halls. I made sure to take plenty of pictures of the adorable sight, mostly for Daniel’s mother who wanted to add them to one of the many family albums she had in her home. I never noticed that the boy’s dark creamy skin kinda looked like a mix between myself and Olive’s skin tones. I then blushed as I heard a young woman that was walking beside her husband say. “I hope they have a nice family trip.”
Once we had Daniel placed on one of the two beds we had for this room. For a moment the thought of sharing a bed beside Olive began to take hold. The only person I had ever shared a bed with was Sarah (though that stopped when I turned 16) and my mom back home when she first found me. I used to have some really bad nightmares that only her presence could cure. Olive seemed to notice the look that was in my eyes as she rolled her eyes before pulling out the large couch we had, showing that it doubled as another bed. “Do you want this or the other bed?” She asked with a small smirk appearing on her lips as she added in teasing a voice. “Or shall we share the bed?”
“I-I will gladly take the couch,” I said, moving my bags to sit beside it. I heard her chuckle under her breath making my face light up a bit more. “Do you need to tease me like that?”
“You make it too easy, Xaiver.” She sat down on the bed a few feet away. This hotel room of ours felt more like a small apartment, we had a kitchen to cook. A decently sized television, a few lamps, the carpet was a gray color and soft to the touch. We a large table as well as a small coffee table that sat in front of the couch. “Now I have to go and meet with a local professor that can help me understand who this Adonis is. Now you can either come with me or you can stay with Daniel, Victoria, and Flame.”
“I’ll come with you, but why is your animal spirit not coming?”
Olive turned her eyes onto the small ape spirit that was currently hiding behind the door that led to our bathroom. “Well my daughter decided to be very mischievous during our plane ride, a crime I will be handling with a very well placed smack to her little bottom. However, since she refuses to come near me to handle that, she can stay in this hotel room until she is ready.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at that. It was such a different relationship between someone who’s animal spirit saw them as a parent, rather than mine and Oscar who saw me as a brother. Speaking of Oscar, I walked over to the kitchen and began to fill up both the sink and a large pot with a mix of cold and warm water. Like many animal spirits that lived in water, Oscar loved the water and while he could survive in water. “Come on buddy.” I said once I had them both filled and set the pot on the coffee table. “Get to know our new friends a bit more while I go handle business.”
A bit of my jepei aura flooded from my gemstone and a moment later a small dark blue squid appeared hanging onto the edge of the pot. “I am assuming that I am in charge?”
I looked over my shoulder at the sleeping 15 year old, the sleeping dark red fox spirit with nine tails, and the small brown monkey who had just jumped over Olive’s attempt to grab her and crawled underneath my bed. “Please watch them, Oscar. Do not let them leave this room alone.”
My friend chuckled as he reached over with two of his tentacles to grab the remote. “I’ll keep them out of trouble, and protect them with my life.” His voice then came into my head as he added. “I think you have a shot with Olivia, so don’t fuck it up.”
“I hate you.” I said my dark face was burning a bit as I went towards the door after Olive.
As we walked down the boring gray walls of this hotel, I couldn’t help but ask. “Is it odd raising your animal spirit as a daughter rather than having fun with them as a sibling?”
“Things might be easier if I didn’t have such a mischievous little ape that always pushes my limits.” Even while she said that, she had a smile that often my own mother back home would have. “But I wouldn’t give it up for the world, besides taking care of her has helped me take care of myself in a few ways.”
“How so?”
“Well I wouldn’t be a good mother figure if I held her to rules that I didn’t hold myself too.” Olive explained as we got into the elevator and began to make our way from the first to fifth floor. “How about you, what is it like having an eight armed brother to get into trouble with.”
“Ten arms,” I corrected. “It is more fun than you can imagine, especially since with this friend if I push my luck too much, I can dive under the waters until my folks cool off a bit. I got lucky with an animal spirit that can breathe water.”
“And I am lucky to have a spirit that can climb into the trees with ease.” I felt something tap my shoulder and I found a dark brown tail resting on my shoulder. “She has given me a nice gift in this jepei made tail.”
I smiled at her before focusing. The skin on my neck tightened a bit into a small pair of gills. “I have my own gifts from my brother,” I unsummoned my gills before bringing out the second amazing gift I got from my kraken. Four more arms made of my jepei aura. “They come in handy,” I said, chuckling a bit at my own pun.
“I suppose they do, but if you crack more than five puns about your extra hands I am gonna kick you off this team and send for Unique instead.”
“I will hold you to that,” I said, holding up two of my extra hands.
“That is two.”
As we left the entrance to head to our large car. Olive suddenly asked. “Xaiver, has your spirit animal ever asked for information on its past lifes or past users?”
As I climbed into the passenger's seat. “I don’t think so, I mean ever since I found out that he was the reincarnation of the first kraken spirit. I tried looking into it but even our private library doesn’t have much to offer on it. Why do you ask?”
Our ride dipped down a bit as Olive climbed inside and began to adjust the mirrors from what I had them on. “Victoria has been acting strangely about the subject. When we first went to the library she was reading a book on past users with our line of animal spirit. She doesn’t want to tell me why, just that something bad is coming. Even now if I try to softly bring it up she gets weird about it. My mo-'' She stopped herself short. “Lady Hearthstone said that our spirit animals are connected to the past knowledge of their old users and bodies. I am just wondering if something bad happened to a former user and she wants to protect me from it.”
“Protect you from former sins of the past?”
“Something like that,” once she had finished adjusting everything, she reached into her coat pocket and took out a metal flask. That even from here I could smell how strong that drink was. “Maybe I am just overreacting but it doesn’t stop me from worrying about her.” SHe took a few swigs from it before offering it to me.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Why do you keep doing that?”
“Doing what?” Olive asked as she set her flask down in the cup holder. “I come from a family that can hold their liquor very well.”
“Not that.” I responded. “I mean why do you refer to your mother as Lady Hearthstone and not just say mom or some version of it. I mean I get maybe doing it in front of others in power or adults, but it’s just me and Daniel right now… well technically just me.”
Olive went silent for a moment, just the hum of the engine filling my ears as we pulled out into the streets. “I don’t want people to think I get special treatment from the council or teachers just become my mother’s seat. So I choose to call her Lady Hearthstone when other people are around me. I already hear enough of what I am expected of, just from being her daughter, might as well not add onto it by constantly calling her mom in front of others.”
“What is expected of you?”
“More than you might think, and more than I want.” After she said that, I could feel her mode shift, her joy was gone for the moment and was replaced with sadness. In order to change that I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about having to be something you're not. I’ll always be here to give you a hand or six.” That got her to crack a small grin.
“That is three, you have two more.”
I smiled at her. “I am sure I have enough fingers to count that on.”
“I am gonna kick you out of this car, Xavier.”
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It didn’t take us long to maneuver through the streets of Sparta to The Archaeological Museum of Sparta. We had to climb a bit of a hill to reach the actual entrance. It was a large building made of dark yellow stone, with about eight pillars that held up the entrance. We walked around it’s halls for a few moments, mostly just taking in the amount of artifacts that they had on display. The entire museum had about seven rooms in total, each holding different relics that had been found in the fields beyond us and the waters around us. Some have been recently found in latest digs. Some of these relics went back hundreds if not thousands of years. From old paintings and pots, to clay made figures and statues. I was glad that we came now as it has been renovated in the last three years, with some of if not most of these relics having been stored in old warehouses since there was no room.
As we were leaving the 4ht room that held more prehistoric findings from the region of Lakonia, such as the first instances of bronze weapons and art. We were greeted by an older man with long brown hair, tanned skin, and a well trimmed beard. He was much taller than even Olive, and his build gave mine a run for its money. However, a bit of familairy was on him in the form of a dark green jepei aura that spilled off his shoulders like small flames. “Lady Hearthstone.” He greeted, shaking Olive’s hand. “It’s an honor and pleasure to be in the presence of the daughter of one of the council, long may your mother reign with wisdom and grace.”
“I will be glad to inform her of your kind words, Dr. Drakos. And please just call me Olivia or Olive if you are feeling bold.” she said with a bit of teasing in her voice.
He let out a laugh at that before moving over to shake mine. “And pardon my manners young man, my name is Professor Orion Drakos, lead researcher here for The Museum of Archaeological Sparta.”
I gripped his hand, surprised by the strength that came from it. He was in his older years but I was sure he could still kick my butt if it came down to it. “It is an honor to meet you sir, and thank you for this meeting. I hope you weren’t waiting long, brother.”
He grinned at me, a wide and toothy one. “No harm done, brother. Your friend, Olive contacted me the other night and told me you would be in the area as soon as this day or the next, so I cleared my schedule just in case.” He motioned for us to follow him and we were led through the hallways towards a doorway that housed his office. It was neat, with a stack of papers resting on a desk. He had a netrix candle stand resting in the window, a netrix stand was a candle stand that we used our jepei to create the flames for. It was a place to rest gemstones on and absorbing the smoke that was created from their user's flame, was like being tucked into bed by your parents for our animal spirits. His gemstone was dark green and from the shape of the gemstone he had the spirit of the mole. “It is a shame that you won’t be able to meet Draken.”
“Who is Draken?” Olive asked, taking a seat in the chairs provided for us.
Professor Drakos sat on the opposite side of us and poured us each a cup of coffee. “He is my animal spirit, a stubborn old mole that has been with me since birth. He is off helping my granddaughter with a dig just south of here, thank to him I have been able to find things buried deeper in the earth that others could.”
“My God this is good,” I whispered to myself after taking a sip of this drink. It had a sweetness to it that I couldn’t quite place my tongue on as well as a bit of hazelnut to it.
“Now how can I be of service?”
Olive took over. “We were hoping you could tell us a bit more about the philosopher Adonis. I want to know if one he is a real person but also a credible source of information.”
Professor Draken scooted back ni his chair until he was at the small bookshelf that he held in his office. He ran a finger on the back of about ten books before finally pulling one out. “Adonis is one of three philosophers that held jepei aura in the area. Considered oddities due to their abilities, often compared to possible demigods. Most of his works were destroyed and he was killed by a legion of spartan’s as he was deemed as traitor to the state in an unfair trial. His remains are buried just outside of the city as he was deemed unworthy to earn a burial in the city proper.”
“Why on earth was he deemed a traitor?”
“It had something to do with the infamous battle against King Xerxes, when King Leonaidois went to battle him. Adonis was blamed for the events that lead to that army losing, someone started a rumor that he was also responsible for the spartans being betrayed. While he was awaiting trial for a crime he did not commit, he wrote down all that he knew and all that he had found into one book, one that he had his daughter carry from the city and bury.” Professor Drakos set a book in front of us, this one having been written in very old language. Suddenly I wished that Sarah was here with us, she could have easily understood this. The first pages were written in sloppy handwriting but the more we turned, the calmer and neater it seemed to get. Almost as if the more he accepted that his death was coming, the more determined he got. “We found this,” Professor Drakos began. “In the waters about 200 miles from here. It was expertly preserved in a barrel, sealed with both clay and jepei mixed together. It is our belief that his daughter was trying to take a boat to Africa. It was either attacked or sunken by a storm, as this was found in a boat not made by the spartan’s but rather by Atheneas.”
“Do you have any more?” I asked.
“We only found much on that ship, the rest is harder to get out without the proper equipment to remove it safely. I have been trying to get a jepei user that can breathe underwater to help but that is hard to come by here.”
“I might be of assistance,” I said with a smile. “I have the spirit of the kraken, so I think me and my brother Oscar can help you with this issue.”
His dark green eyes widened slightly. “The kraken,” he said in almost disbelief. “One of the uncrowned kings, you truly have been blessed with such a spirit. If you are willing, we can get you out there as soon as the end of the week.”
“I would love to, that is part of the reason we are here.”
Olive then added. “Did any of his works include anything about places he might have visited. Such as I don’t know, The Tower of Babel?”
“Now what are you looking into that ancient tale for?” The older man asked with some amusement creeping up on his face.
“We are on a research trip for school, I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but I think we might have found something interesting.” Olive answered. “I told my mother about this and she has funded our trip to see if my hypothesis is correct, that this philosopher might have stumbled onto the wreckage of the tower.”
“I see then it would be an honor to help you. Plus it would help me find more information for a book I am working on. I want to show the world how jepei users helped in many ways, from rulers that some might not have known shared our gifts. To the philosophers of old, the more we normalize the idea of jepei. The less people think we are just some weird group of people with special powers.” Dr. Drakos rose to his feet and held his hand out to us to shake. “I believe this is gonna be the start of an amazing partnership, my study is yours to use. I have more text here on the subject of Adonis and his findings than even the council might currently hold in that library of texts they own.”
“You know about that library?” I asked after shaking his hand.
He gave me a brief nod. “Some of my research is trapped down there for the time being, and as I was once a master in research, I had access to it when I needed it. The only member of my class that ever got to step into that place.”
“Can we start tomorrow sir?” Olive asked. “We are still a bit jet lagged from both of our flights and the car ride to get up here.”
“That is more than fine, and is there anyone else I should be expecting to come to my office?” Dr. Drakos asked.
“His name is Daniel, he is a bit young but is a valuable member of our little team here. He is currently asleep back at the hotel.” I answered.
“Then I will look forward to meeting you all, let’s say we have lunch tomorrow with all of you at around 1:30. I will introduce you to my granddaughter, she is scheduled to come back tonight.”
We both agreed with him and after one more round of handshakes we left the museum and got back into the car. “Well that went much better than I assumed.” I said leaning back in my chair.
“He is a jepei user,” Olive answered, getting our car in gear. “We always help each other when it comes to things like this, plus he is also a researcher, so we help him and he helps us.” Olive smiled then turned upside down. “It probably also helped when I told him who my mom is.”
“I am sure it didn’t,” I countered. “He never once said he is doing this out of a favor to the council or your mother. It is like you just said, we do these things for each other. That will always be the golden rule of jepei users, a rule that overcomes nations and skin tones. There are so few of us, why fight among ourselves?”
Her smile returned a bit at that, and my short haired friend looked a bit more relaxed. “Why can’t you bring yourself up like you do so many others around you?” She asked.
I gave her a small shrug. “I don’t think I have enough hands to drag myself back up if I am being honest, no pun intended.”
“I’ll let it slide this one time.” We laughed a bit at that one. “Well how about we go and get some lunch before heading back to our hotel. We can bring something back for Daniel so he doesn’t keep starving himself.”
“Are you sure he needs food?” I asked. “I have never seen him eat before.”
“I will force him to eat if I have to, the same way I blame to force him to sleep if I have too. That boy is stuck in his head more than you are, and he is punishing himself worse than you keep trying too. We need each other to be at our A-Game for this mission, so I don’t care if he hates me for this, I will do what is best for him.”
“Lord almighty you sound like mom.”
“I have a chimp for a daughter, a chimp that I still owe a good hiding to.”
“Why are you upset with her?” I wondered if maybe I could convince her not to punish that cute little chimp of a daughter she had. “I am sure that what she didn’t wasn’t that bad.”
“Do you remember when that flight attendant fell to the ground during our flight to Greece and spilled all of those drinks?” I nodded my head, still remembering the sound of glass breaking as well as the cut that woman got on her arm. “Well how do you think that happened in the first place?”
I let out a low whistle at that. “Maybe you could go easy on her….”
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After our wonderful lunch together I learned that Olive is a lot more fun that she lets on at school. The last thing I expected when we walked back into our hotel room was Oscar waiting for me at the door looking a bit annoyed and missing two of his tentacles. “I am gonna murder that damn fox of his.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I told him not to go,” Oscar answered, flouting up to me. “But he didn’t like that so his fox cut off two of my fucking arms and they ran out of the door. I have no idea where he is.”
I let out a long sigh and shared a look with Olivia who currently had a vice grip on her small chimp who was beginning the process of begging for mercy like most children did when they were in trouble. “I’ll go find him.” I said as I placed Oscar on my shoulder.
I had no idea where I was gonna start looking.
And I was not expecting to find him where I did.
I’m glad I found him in time.
Cause why he was sliding a sharp rock across his wrist. I had no idea.
“What the fuck are you doing?!”
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