Jack was sailing along, the shimmering city of Vesper off in the distance. The orange glow of the setting sun lit up the city to where he could see it's many bridges and buildings. He leaned up against the mast and marveled at it. It had been a very long time since he had walked the streets of that fine city. In his younger days, the years he tried to live a life of solitude as a tavern keeper under the pseudonym of Hawkins, he once saw Lord British paying the city a visit. But that was many years ago, back when Lord British seemed to care for his people and hadn't yet gone into hiding. Jack's old tavern once stood along the road between Vesper and Minoc, where people would gather and share stories in the evenings, some booze, and of course, the inevitable brawls. Perhaps he could have gotten away with slipping through the streets unnoticed back then, when most of his kills were done with the silent precision he had mastered as an assassin, but his notoriety as a pirate later would prevent him from doing so today. For a moment, Jack felt a little regret at this thought, but Buccaneer's Den was sufficient for any town excursions. For much of the past few weeks, Jack had been sailing on the ocean, traveling to the shrines to see what wisdom they may hold for him, or perhaps answers. He thought the life of a lighthouse keeper at Cape Adalet might have brought him some sort of peace, but it did not. Sometimes the past catches up, reminding of what used to be, and what could have been..... His mind drifted off, thinking about the events that started this journey. Weeks ago, in the lighthouse at Cape Adalet, Jack peered across the room, squinting a little and blinking to adjust on the man that was now standing in front of him. This man was wearing a black cloak and a red bandana. "I just can't get away from ye, can I" Jack growled. "Whattya want with me..." The man, deathly pale, said nothing. He continued to look at Jack with strange contempt. Jack pointed the bottle he was holding in the direction of the man. "Nothin' of course, because ye aren't really there. I jus' drank this here bottle, an maybe a few before. It's the rum talking...Begone!" The man spoke. "Always fond of the drink you were. Such a shame, though. Together, we could have defeated our enemies and perhaps even rule the entire realm. Your leadership skills were legendary, your enemies spoke your name in hushed whispers. You were cunning and a master of planning strikes upon your enemies. Now look at you.... a drunken wretch rotting away in this prison cell you call a lighthouse. A broken down, pathetic pirate." Slamming down the bottle upon the desk, Jack peered at the man with hatred in his eyes. "And ye were a bloody fool!" "Remember who you were, Jack. Who you are. You can't escape it. You can do honorable deeds all you want, but you are still stained crimson with your bloody past." Jack took a final swig of the bottle on the desk, and hurled it towards the man. The man disappeared, and the glass shattered against the wall. "...crimson I prefer to stay," Jack muttered. He was alone in the lighthouse once more. Jack walked over to the window and looked out at the bay. The moon glistening upon the water evoked a distant memory, one that was locked far away within the reaches of his mind. He quickly turned away from it, knowing what the memory involved. The visions kept getting worse, and starting to drive him mad. He fumbled around the desk for any more bottles of liquor but they were all empty. He cursed under his breath and walked up the stairs and retired for the night. As he went to sleep that night, he found himself falling into a dream, or nightmare. With some sense of self awareness he attempted to move his arm to keep himself from going, but the dream persisted. Jack marveled as he found himself standing at the sparkling water at the Shrine of Spirituality, only he was looking upon his younger self in another time and place. A weird sense of deja-vu came over him, when he realized this dream was strangely familiar. "Go on, say the mantra." A female voice from behind him said. "I don't recall what it is, you do it." he heard himself say. The sensation was strange, like he was reliving the memory through his younger eyes but in his current frame of mind. His consciousness fluttered between the first person and seeing himself from the past as his current self. He turned around and hopped off the altar, and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face. That was the face of... "...Fauna, this is silly. Let us go to Despise so we can meet up with Jengs and join this guild you keep talking about." Jack heard himself say. Fauna? A face Jack vaguely remembered. She was a middle-aged woman whom he traveled with sometimes. -A friend only- he had to tell many people who inquired. The land was a harsh place to travel alone, especially with the monsters that lurked outside of town. They were both getting provisions one day and decided to travel to the Shrine of Spirituality as a rite of passage to start their lives of adventure. "Sure. You'll like them. Especially Omeg ar, he's a rather skilled warrior." Fauna smiled. "Well then, let's be on our way. I'm sure you'll tell me all about him on the way, as you seem to be glowing while you speak of this Omegar fellow." he teased. The next thing Jack knew, his younger self was standing in front of the guildstone of the Heroes of Justice. Jen nings, their leader, spoke with a booming voice, raising the hefty war hammer with one arm. "Welcome to the guild, my friends. I think we'll slay many monsters and right many wrongs together." The training sessions were brutal. Omegar was tasked with training the new recruits. He was a rather impressive looking warrior whom Jenn ings entrusted as his right-hand man. Jack saw himself sparring with Omegar, who seemed to be a bit more aggressive than normal, in the presence of Fauna. Despite his best efforts, Jack fell to the ground again and again. Every time, he'd wink at Fauna and taunt Jack's younger self to get back up and fight some more, sometimes putting insult to injury by using strange terms such as "noob". Jack remembered being battered and bloody after every training session. Omegar, a brash and boisterous type, would go out of his way to put him down in the presence of Fauna. Next, Jack saw a conversation he had forgotten so long ago, with a younger member of the guild, Rajin. "Omegar has it out for you. He wants Fauna and thinks you are standing in the way. He's Jennin gs second in command, you know, and has his ear." Rajin once told him. "I'll just explain to him that we are just friends and I will be happy for them." Jack heard himself say. Though he never had any romantic interest in Fauna he recalled a hint of sadness that his friend would be gone. Jack walked into the woods near their guild house in the Despise Valley where Omegar was training. "Omegar, a moment please..." Omegar saw him and grinned almost evilly. He raised his battle axe and lunged at him. Jack saw his younger self draw a katana and fight with all his might. This was no mere training session, there was murder in Omegar's eyes. Jack defended himself the best he could but was overpowered by Omegar, such as many times before. He could feel the armor he was wearing break apart under the heavy blows that landed, the shield busting out of his hands...... ....a strange feeling came over Jack at reliving this moment, and he soon remembered why. It was then that the tide turned in the battle, as pent up rage began to boil from within. Omegar almost seemed taken aback by the newfound ferociousness within his foe. Soon, it led to panic. "Dude stop, I'm out of bandages!" he cried. People seem to speak in strange words under heavy stress. Soon, Jack saw himself chasing after Omegar who attempted to flee. He plunged the katana deep into Omegar's belly when he caught up with him. The look of terror in Omegar's eyes... the blood cascading down Jack's arm... ...he kind of liked it. Another thrust for good measure, and Jack saw himself pull out the sword, and rifle through Omegar's backpack. He then found himself in another situation entirely. He was hiding in the shadows of Je nnings' tower, where Omegar came in after returning to the land of the living. Omegar was extremely agitated and pacing about, awaiting Jenni ngs' arrival to banish Jack's younger self. Sensing Omegar was going to have him banished, Jack then lunged out at him, and Omegar in a state of shock fought him off and managed to throw him outside. Jen nings soon appeared and attacked Jack with the large war hammer he always held. Jack evaded both Omegar and Jennin gs in the forest, with Omegar screaming that he'd be made an example of. Later, Jack found himself sneaking back into his sandstone house, which was next to Je nnings' tower. He had to grab some of his things before taking off. Just as he grabbed his backpack from the floor, an crossbow bolt struck him in the arm from Jenning s tower. Omegar had been upon the roof, waiting for Jack to return. Fauna was standing next to Omegar, looking down upon Jack with a solemn blank stare. Jack managed to stumble down the stairs, grabbing a crossbow of his own and returned to the roof to fire a few shots at Omegar, but was not as skilled in the area of archery. "I've been set up..." he thought. On a hunch, he believed Aeris and Rajin, eager to prove themselves to Jen ings, would soon be there to intercept him. As soon as he burst through the door, Aeris recalled in. Jack saw his younger self lunge out at Aeris, mortally wounding him with the katana which he poisoned with the most potent poison he could find. Poison had a way of making people panic, and soon Aeris fell. From behind him, Jack could hear Jenn ings yell at his younger self from behind him as he ran off into the woods, "You are out of the guild!" After some distance between them, Jack saw himself walking to the marble workshop of his good friend and neighbor, the blacksmith Morgoth. "Morgoth... I'm leaving for a while. I'm not sure when I'll be back..." "Why, what happened? And I see you are no longer apart of the Heroes of Justice?" "Piss on them!" he said angrily. He then calmed himself. "Sorry, Morgoth. I was betrayed, and banished. I think I'll head to Britain and look for a place of my own." "Well safe journeys friend." Morgoth shook his hand. "Let me know if ya ever need anything." He nodded, and started the long walk to Britain. It was there he met a guy selling a run down tower in the middle of nowhere. A perfect place to get some solitude and regroup. The next thing Jack knew, he was standing outside of a small tower in a sweltering, mosquito infested jungle, and way off in the distance, the unmistakable sandstone walls of Trinsic. He looked haggard, and his once clean shaven face was now a scraggly beard. It was probably months after the banishment from the Heroes of Justice, Jack surmised, and saw his younger self dutifully apply poison to the blade he was holding. "Revenge is good for the soul, is it not?" a voice from behind him said. Now seeing the dream through the first person, he whirled around to see the man in the black cloak and red bandana. "Serving others in the name of Justice didn't work out so well for you, did it? You were banished to this hovel in this damnable jungle, the ones you called your friends cast you aside. But things got better for you when you embraced who you really were.... didn't they? The great assassin you once were... who you still are at heart." Jack could not answer, but the apparition had a point. Things were better... for a time. Starting to get some sense of control over his dream, Jack felt himself trying to move awake; he had enough of this nonsense. He woke up with a gasp. "Don't forget who you are..." a disembodied voice called out to him in the darkness of the lighthouse. Jack was now sitting up and surveying the dark room around him. He grabbed his sword and put it under a cloak, and went out for some fresh air. The Cape was very quiet that night. Some of the buildings were now empty at that point as the rumors were rampant that they would relocate as the area was too remote. Jack walked back to the lighthouse and the ship where it had been docked. He figured it was time to get packing himself, an empty town wouldn't be of use for a lighthouse. He hadn't put much thought as to where he'd go from there, but it looks like it was back to sea for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack shook out of his deep thoughts and he noticed the moon was now out and Vesper nearly a speck behind him. The journey was half over. The Shrines had provided some insight into his past, but there were still pieces missing to the puzzle. There were still a few shrines to go. He pulled out a candle and his ship's log book to scrawl the events of the past few weeks, in hopes that maybe things started to connect. He surmised he'd be reaching the Shrine of Valor within the next few days...
