raf9900
This is act two of JoLW, my fan fiction. I hope you all like it.sizeo:4/sizeoAct 2: Crossroads!sizec/sizecsizeo:3/sizeo-Chapter 3: City of dreamers.-sizec/sizec"So you say you all have guardians? And you're following this Reciful guy? Interesting." Said James, upon hearing the team's entire story. In fact, he was actually quite amazed to hear the dreams he had been having were real, but he decided it would be better not to show it. It had been half an hour they were venturing in the tunnels already, and they now had wooden coating, with a slightly better ligthing. "I don't think I'll be of much help, tough.""You're willing to sacrifice yourself for someone you don't know." Nera said, looking at Gelyan for a moment. "We need more men like you.""Oh, I assume that's your hint that I should be ashamed of myself." Said Gelyan, with sarcasm pouring off his mouth. "Very subtle.""So, what's your other life?" Asked Sisily, to Jackie. She had just told hers, altough without emberhead's consent."I live as a famous circus artist! I do Fire Juggling like no one else can. I was very poor, but they found me and my talents and now I have a family. Everything else I know is here, on this world." She replied."Fire juggling!" Sisily exclaimed. "No way! Can you teach me?""Do you know how to juggle?" Jackie asked."No, but you can teach me later. I want fire first!" She insisted."Should I tell my story too?" Asked Jay."This isn't a therapy session." Nera replied, dryly. "Increase the pace, people, I want to get there alredy.""Right." He agreed."I wouldn't worry about it, Nera." Gelyan explained. "It's here."In front of them, stood a double door, made of high quality entailed wood. In it, the words "Lost dreamers of distant worlds/Make of this heaven yours to live. Without hesitating, Jackie inclined backwards and kicked it; the doors gave in quite easily, opening widly. Behind, an entire world awaited them: A city made of stone, with large buildings, coliseums and cobblestone streets. People, humans of different forms, colours and sexes, each of them carrying a different weapon and most of them with a egg in their hands. The sky, 350 feet above, was made of earth, with enormous supporting arches made of iron crossed its entire lentgh. From far away, they could smell a diversity of scents, from perfume to freshly made chicken."That's... So cool!" Shouted Sisily, jumping around. "Are all of those lucid dreamers?""Yes they are, Sisily."Ansered Gely. "This place is called crossroads. It's where all lucid dreamers get their eggs and use those to reach distant timelines. This place is famous for having a full government, police, and everything a decent city should have. There are lots of people who decide to make this place their home and end up working here.", thought Nera. She looked around, trying to find somewhere to start; if there ever would be a time her leadership would be tested, it would be that moment. As much as it disgusted Neraine, she would have to depend on Gelyan and his capcity to control the backstabbing impulse."Where could Reciful be, Gelyan?" She asked, as if every word was a punch in her guts."Gosh, are you asking me?" Asked Gelyan, with fake innocence. "How could I now?" She remained silent, but her clenching hands told everything he wanted to know. "Reciful has tons of contacts here, so if we can hunt them down, one of them ought to have the answer.""Tell me my prey and I'll bring his head to you!" Exclaimed Jackie."We need information, not heads." Gelyan explained. "We are going to need something slightly more subtle.""Can't we ask them? Veeery politely?" Asked Sisily."If only, Sisi." Said Jay. he thought."We'll try asking, Sisi." Promised Nera. "But if they fail to comply... Tell us the first target, Gelyan.""Fine. Follow me, I'll explain it in the way."While Gelyan explained a variey of details about the city, its story and inner workings, they walked the streets, going towards downtown. As they went more and more inside, they could see the the city everyday: People rushed in every directions, some made incredible stunts and met long-lost firends, police pursued burglars jumping from buiding to building. Seeing thousands of lucid dreamers quickly set some disconfort on Neraine. Venturing deep inside, they could see some people with guardians following them, creature of all religions and mythologies; much like a celebrity, a ring of less famous people followed them, asking for autographs. She wondered if there were any with two tarots.James was quite overwhelmed at everything happening lately; he would have never imagined there would be so many like him. The enourmous settlement was what impressed him the most: The medieval style it had renembered him of movies he loved so much to watch; in fact, it seemed like he was in a movie. That was exactly why he didn't question not once the veracity of the lucid dream: The way it felt. A surge of power and joy that only came in a lucid dream, a mistery whose answer he asked himself since the first time. Now that it was answered, the void left was quickly being filled with his new companions. -Later...-"So, here we are." Said Gelyan, pointing the Inn. He had been talking much about the city, but no one was actually paying attention. It made sense; After all, they were watching the object itself rather than the desciption."An inn?" Jackie asked. "We are here to fight, not to rest!""This mission will take days." Said Nera. "Between each mission, we might as well rest. But for now, we're signing in."Inside, they found a warm, rude room, but decently made. If the scent of alcohool were any stronger, it would be inebriating on its own accord. There was a bar with a few discussing poeple, an empty sitting room and stairs in a corner. Behind the bar's counter, there was a man; he had short, white and smooth hair, a medium build, and wore a black leather jacket over his barman apron. The man had darker than fair skin, brown eyes and a small scar in his forehead. He was cleaning a glass cup with a cloth, and gave a quick look with the corner of his eye in the group."Welcome to the chimera inn." He said, in a dull tone. "Please tell me how can I make myself useful for you.""Look if it isn't good ol' Mut." Said Gelyan, happily approaching the white-haired man. "Did you really sink this low?" Mut looked up again."Gely! Long time no see!" He said, much more warmly. They gave a firm handshake. "You really can't stay a minute away from hot girls, huh? Specially the one in blue." He said, blinking to Nera. She took a step foward, about to start a calamity, but Gelyan stopped her."C'mon, no need to get angry now, my friend over there was just kidding." He turned to his friend. "Now, Murtagh, I was hoping we could crash here for a few nights.""No problem buddy. Say, did everything go well with Reciful?" Murtagh asked."I'll tell you about it later. We should get going." Gely said, leaving. His teammates followed right after. "All right people, our first target is an archer of renowed skill called Aaron. Luckily, I've got one of his eggs left." He showed the egg; it was quite small, fitting in his hand loosely. The eggshel was green, and it had a howling wolf painted in it. "Now, follow me."Not much time later, they arrived at a place Gelyan called the "portal room": It was a place filled with portals for every place in the multiverse, the beating heart of the city and the place where everyone went to. It had the format of an enourmous ash tree but it was made of stone. It's roots had an opening to the inside, where a conglomeration of people tried to enter and exit constantly. Most of the ones that exited were either shining in glory and joy or bleeding red defeat.Proceeding intro the structure, they were greeted with a hyperspace of portals, streching as far as the view allowed. Neraine raised the green egg and a portal appeared before them: It shone the soft light of the sun hidden in the leaves, with the smell of ripe wild fruits and the delicate blow of summer breeze. Not far away, the sounds of wildlife could be heard."This is it." Neraine said, turning her head to reach the team. "I will tolerate no slips from anyone. Am I clear?" Everyone nodded. "Foward, then."sizeo:3/sizeo-Chapter 4: Stiff meat.-sizec/sizec"This place is beatiful." James commented.The team arrived inside a deep, dense rainforest. Massive trees attempted to touch the sky, with apes swinging from branch to branch and brids chipping joyfully. On the ground, bushes, ferns and tall grasses hid the diverse insect wildlife. And the environment stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a complex maze only the bravest and the most cunning could traverse."Don't forget we're here to fight." Commented Neraine.This renembered Jay of something; He observed his palm: The gauntlet had a white stone in its middle, something he usually hid from sight. It emitted a faint light. He thought to himself. Nera turned to Gelyan: "I suppose you know where that Aaron is.""Wait for it..." He answered."Who are you?" Asked a voice, hidden somewhere deep into the forest. "Indentify yourselves or I will slay you.""Where are..." Neraine started, but she was was topped mid-sentece by an arrow that zipped by her; she felt a slight tickle, and the unmistakable sensation of having a drop of blood dancing in her face."Your face width is 135 milimeters, so I differed the angle of my arrow by 3,58ยบ degrees to sing your hair." The voice explained. "The next time I will not be so generous." She clenched her hand, thinking of a solution; but it was interrupted by Jackie."I'll call your bluff!" She shouted, running towards him swinging her hammer."Wait!" Nera commanded.But it was too late. Zipping through the air wiht its dautning sound, an arrow hit emberhead's foot, causing her to stop immeadeatly and kneel. A split second after, two arrows hit her chest and she fell. Gelyan and Sisily were the only ones with the sight to notice the culprit; but only Sisi had the initative to shoot at him, her fiery flowers burning their way through the vegetation. The man dodged it at last second, only to be greeted with more fire attacks. Once out of her sight, he cursed:"Fine, do it your way." Said the archer. "But I warn you, playing hunter with Aaron, the awaken eye is not going to end well for you." Sisily noticed James had jumped in front of the fallen teammate and Nera appreached the two, seeming less than pleased with the sudden charge.Jackie couldn't breathe. She felt the soft embrace of the grass, but her ears only heard a distant, difuse sound. It didn't hurt, tough. In her blurried vision, she saw an angel, with niveous wings surrounding her, telling her not to worry. And, with a surge of energy, emberhead came back, sitting up quickly. Her breath came back, and everything returned to normality. Then she felt a hand clenching hand in her collar, pulling her up and away from the ground. It was Neraine."What on earth do you think you're doing?" She asked, bringing her closer. "Listen to me. You cannot do everything by yourself. We are in a team; we depend on you and you depend on us. If you want us to have any chance, think; think the consequences of your actions, because the life of us all is, at all times, in your hands."Jackie didn't answer, but Nera let her go. Once she was on her own feet again, Gelyan spoke:"If we want to have a chance at surviving, we'll need to start acting now. Sisily has a much better view than I thought, and that'll be extremely useful. I also heard that Aaron never walks alone, usually with a quartet of tree hugers that gave him shelter a few years ago.""One for each of us..." Jay noted, thoughtfull."That means they'll try to divide us." Neraine noticed. "Gelyan, take us to the nearest beach. If we can force them to fight on an open field, we'll have the upper hand."Unlike most times, Gelyan put full effort into following his orders: Any slip in the chock full of traps way to the beach would cost their integrity. In any corner, his trained eyes located fake ground, strings and ropes. He kept Sisily close by him; her random behavior was the most likely to trigger anything. In the meantime, he could ask her the question that bugged him the most."Sisi, how did you know where Aaron was?" He asked. "I wasn't aware of your good sight.""Well, I do work at a restaurant." She explained. "I've got to watch all the customers at the same time. Can I catch a monkey? I promise I won't hurt him!" He denied. Meawhile, Jay approached Neraine, rather nervous."Neraine, there's something I must tell you." He said, she turned her head; her eyes stared at him with suspicious, consuming his confidence bit by bit. "Y-you're making a mistake if you think I'll be of any good in a fight. You're putting your team into a four vs. five fight.""Your lack of self-confidence is crippling you." Neraine said. "I've seen you fighting already; if you're afraid of losing, we'll help you as soon as we're over, all you have to do is hold on you foe. Can you do that?" He nodded, still unconfident, and left. , she concluded. Meanwhile, Jackie brooded over the words told to her. She kicked a rock in anger. Admitting a necessity was harder than the way Nera put it. And with much to think, the team proceeded into the woods, loosing track of time. Not far away, Aaron watched the five from afar. His family still was to arrive, forcing him to wait. . It didn't really matter if it was a normal animal or the pink, furless one; bleeding was the trait that bonded the two."We're here!" Said Gelyan, showing the ocean. The beach was large and long, forming a bay. Behind them, laid the untouched vegetation; it was a mountain range that served as a wall, putting apart land and sea. The sun was blinding, and made the ocean shine as a jewel; a sea breeze filled the air with a strong salt smell. "The beach!" Sisily screamed. "I shoud've bringed a bikini. Who wants to make sand castles?""Later." Said Nera. She raised her voice. "We are ready for you, Aaron! Show yourself, unless you want to run." thought Gely. Interrupting his line of thought, an arrow apeared from the woods, aiming for Neraine. She grabbed it while it was still in the air, using her index and middle thinger of the right hand. With a small pressure, it split in two. Aaron appeared from the forest, clapping his hands. He was lean and rather thin, with long arms. His hair was light brown and smooth, reaching shoulder lenght; his eyes were also brown. The archer was wearing threadbare, dirty clothes made of different leathers sewn together. Aaron's bow was an unique weapon, which could barely be called a "bow"; it was made of steel, with two blades separated by a handle. The string was made of an exotic, elastic string, and his quiver was filled with a veriety of arrows."You've serious now, I see." He said, and made a serious expression. Four others appeared from the woods and circled the group; their animalistic eyes looked upon the team as if they were animals, lesser beings, nothing but dinner. "But I want to ask you a favor. When you're in the verge of death, with my arrow in your throat, smile and relax; When a prey dies in stress, its meat becomes stiff. And we all know that stiff meat makes a horrible barbecue."sizeo:3/sizeo-Chapter 5: The first Norn: Necessity.-sizec/sizec"Sisily, I'll have to ask you a favor." Neraine said, ignoring Aaron's disturbing speech. She thought. "Take care of mr. barbecue for me.""All right!" Said Sisily, teleporting in front of the archer. "So, can you give me a piece of the barbecue?""Huh? the barbecue." He explained."Really?" For Aaron's surprise, she bit her own arm. "Ack! I don't taste good. What else do you got?""Look, let's finish this. Die!" He shooted, but Sisi teleported, re-apearing in front of him. annoyed, he used his bladed bow to attack, but she blocked it single handedly with her axe."It's bad to hit a girl." She said, more seriously. Her eyes shone like red flames for a moment. "If you won't tell me where the meat is, I'll make you tell me.""Looks like I've got the little coward." Commented one of Aaron's companions, who had gauntlets with long jet black claws. He was imense and wore a long lack jacket, and a black beret. He had golden eyes and brown skin. "My name is Grizzle. Call me, and plead for your life. If your grizzle seems realistic, I might let you go."Without bothering to answer that, Neraine charged towards Grizzle; she jumped from position to position, ready to come from any direction. With his mighty claw, the foe hit the ground, raising sand and lauching her into the air. The bear jumped after her, claws first. Sword hit claw, and Nera got caught within the man's leap. She hit the sand with him on top. Grinning, Grizzle tried to prepare and attack. When he noticed his claw was stuck in ice, the grin quickly disappeared. His enemy standed on her hands and kicked his head with a leg split, separating the two fighters.Neraine jumped back to standing position; she was done playing. A hole formed from the ground and Death appeared, bringing darkness and redemption to embrace the enemy. But her foe had a similar suprise: Leaves surrounded him, blocking sight. When they settled, an imense grizzly bear appeared, wearing a full golden armor over its back and head. Grizzly jumped in top of it and grabbed the bear's helmet, and it roared agressively, stomping on the sand. The pairs charged at each other at full speed."Gelyan, why are you doing this?" Asked a girl wearing a grey wolf hide as a cape and a black loose leather suit. She had medium height and long wavy black hair. Her face was small and pale, her eyes were deep blue. "I thought you had good relations with Aaron." "Diplomacy is a funny thing, isn't it Canine?" He asked. "I was about to identify ourselves, when a little misunderstanding took place and he targeted a small girl. I figured it would be easier to defeat you all than convincing him not to fight.""I suppose you're right." Admitted Canine. "I always wanted to see if you're as powerful as your mouth is big, anyway."Snow surrounded Canine in a vortex, quickly disappearing afterwards. A human-sized wolf appeared by her, howling and growling. Gelyan summoned the Hanged man, emerging from the depths of his soul to punish his enemies. He gestured to pull the worf closer; the creature was sucked with great voice towards the guardian, and they began a ferocious fight. Without a second thought, the girl ran around Gelyan, dropping small canines from her pocket. When the teeth reached the ground, a pack of wolves emerged from the sand and charged at Gely from all directions.Seeing this, he used his gun to rain bullets in all directions, scaring and scattering the pack. Canine attacked with a short blade from behind, but Gelyan had it coming and blocked it. She insisted a few more attacks, and then gave him a split second of idleness; it was enough. He covered her in immobilizing goo. But the wolves had re-organized and charged at him again. Too slow to do something, Gely simply stood still and wait for the inevitable conclusion.James was facing a man wearing feline leather, yellow with black dots. He had military boots and gloves with the format of a cheetah's head, with its mouth open and the teeth ready to attack. The man was small, but seemed fairly athletic. Additionaly, he was tan, with black eyes and golden curly hair."You seem week. What's you name?""James.""Well, James, you should be glad to become the Feline Flash's prey." Said Flash.With that, he stepped lightly into sand and flew on the ground towards James, too fast to dodge. He raised his shield, and the cheetah head bit the metal. He retreated quickly and began spinning around his foe, raising the sand to act as a barrier and make him invisible. Jay extended his arm, hoping that Flash would run into it, but he jumped over it, taking advantage of the opening to kick him in the chest. However, he wass too heavy, and Feline launched himself to the ground instead, regaining his feet right after.James awaited patiently. He raised his arm and shot a projectile the size of a fist to his enemy, traveling fast. He used both hands to block them, but was thrown half a dozen feet away. Again, Flash rose, slightly bruised. He rushed towards Jay, and began punishing him, with punches and kickes in rapid sucession; He did nothing, for his gautlets refused too move. , he thought to himself. Noticing the lack of resistance by his oponent, Feline stopped."Why aren't you attacking? You gave up?" He asked."It's not that." James answered. "My weapon... It doesn't work the same way most weapons do. It needs some kind of "fuel": There's two emotions that work on it. Right now it's working on my empathy, on my will to protect. But it's emtpy, and I'm fighting for myself, so these gautlets are useless.""I see. So, to make you more interesting, all have to do is put one of your friends in danger?" Flash asked, grinning. He ran to the side and grabbed Jackie, strangling her with a headlock. "Show me, James, your true power!"With that, the stones in his palms began shining bright light, giving him the power surge he needed. Faster and stronger than before, Jay rushed towards his enemy and delievered a solid punch with his right arm, shooting at the same time: The punch was covered in white energy and hit the target directly, throwing him into the ocean. James ran after him, ready for more. Flash summoned his guardian, and a cheetah of his size appeared by him. Exactly at the shore, the two reached each other and began sparring, raising water and sand everywhere around them.Dropped by Feline, Jackie got up; her oponent was a girl taller than her, had wavy auburn hair in a ponytail, green eyes and long legs. She wore a brown hood and green clothes. By her, a peregrine large enough to carry her looked down to its new prey. There were no weapons in her hands. "What are you doing in such a dangerous place, girl?" Asked the girl. "Go home, I hate to hit kids.""You refuse to tell me your name, huh?" Asked Jackie. "I'll rip it off you."With that, she grabbed her small hammer and went after her, shouting curses. With ice cold calm, the girl patted her mount and took a step foward. Emberhead swung her hammer, creating streams of fire that ran after the target, and charged herself right after. But the flames dissipated before hitting the target, and she was hit with a kick right after. Only when she regained ground it was explained: Her oponent's feet were the weapon, with a retractable metal beak on them.Jackie attacked again, and they exchanged hits, but she was kicked again. , a voice inside her head asked. , she answered, shaking her head, and attacking again. The girl got the best of it. . Emberhead sitted up once more, but all she saw was the metal beak. Her head started to spin and hurt, her vision blurried. . She heard something distorted, and saw her oponent charging one last time. Desperate and panicking, Jackie lost all control and shouted, at the top of her lungs:"HELP!"And, suddenly, everything became calm. She saw a womem with skin clear as the snow, dressed in pure silver armor, with a sword in the hilt and a shield on the back, and curly hair of sanguine red. Two magnificent wings came from her back. She spoke with a soft, but strong voice:"Jackie, fear no more. I am your guardian, Verdandi, and I shall help you."Verdandi unsheated her sword and touched Jackie's heart. Jackie gave herself to the guardian and fell in into the infinity.Outside of emberhead's mind, all people could see was an intense pillar of light. When it was over, her oponent was more than impressed; The woman in her place, with the guardian at her side, clearly couldn't be the girl from before. They had similar hair and clothes, but the woman was taller, on her late teens and with longer hair, blonde from the shoulder down and red on the head. The hammer she carried was bigger, also; But what changed the most was har to be put in words, because she was more mature, and much more powerful."Who... Who are you?" She asked."Who am I?" The woman asked back. "I am Jackie, of course. Or, rather, Jacqueline. What the problem? You're not afraid of a little kid who isn't worth of your name, are you?"With that, Jacqueline's oponent mounted on her peregrine and began circling her. In response, she grabbed her taller, stronger hammer and wielded it. From its top, a stream of fire appeared and hit the falcon in a split second, causing it to fall. Before the girl hit the ground, the hammer fell upon her, bringing a column of sand into the air. When it settled, Jackie stood in front of the downed enemy, who laid in a pool of liquid glass. She raised the girl, who was now smaller than her, and carefully put her in a safe ground."Talongirl." She said, in a faint voice. "My name is Talongirl.""Thanks." Jacqueline said, crouching by her. She had, despite all, a smirk in her face. "Better luck next time, kid."All the edits, adds and changes in those chapters will be added here.-October 19th: Added the chapters.-May 12th: Re-writing of chapter 3. Unecessary medieval setting: Check.-May 13th: Re-writing of chapter 4. Shameless recycling: Check.-May 13th: Re-writing of chapter 5. Stealing ideas from a lot of different sources, hoping no one can acuse them all: Check; Talongirl (Lol): Double Ch