126 Leaving Immediately (1/2)
Bowzer landed on his shoulder and Maura touched his forearm, which was still extended with the tutorial stone in hand.
”Jack, what's wrong?” asked Maura. To her, Jack had just angrily cursed a god she didn't know existed and exploded in anger.
'Jack, what wrong?' Bowzer was just as concerned, brushing his fur against Jack to try and calm the hero.
Suddenly, Jack's angry face changed to a hopeful smile. Before either Maura or Bowzer could react to the sudden change of mood, the tutorial stone shattered and crumbled to the floor. Only dust was left of the once miraculous item.
Startling Maura, Jack put his hands on shoulders and said, ”Thanks, Maura. You've been a big help. Come on Bowzer!”
”W-wait! Jack, where are you going?” Maura didn't know what to think. She couldn't understand his mood swings. How could she know that Jack had spent more than a day in silence thinking over what Daruun had said? Something like that was impossible and far beyond her imagination.
”I've got to hurry and talk to your dad and the others. We've got to leave immediately!” Jack's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. He was hurrying to find everyone else.
It didn't take long for the entire association building to hear about Jack's sudden change of mood. When Jack found the three men he was searching for in his room, he smiled. ”Good, so you're all ready!”
”Huh?” Rydel blinked, surprised to see Jack smiling. ”What's gotten into you?”
”I'll explain it all on the way. Right now, all three of you should get ready to leave. We have to hurry if we want to get back within a week.” Not looking at them, Jack walked to his bed and stored his pillow and blanket for later use.
When the others remained where they were, Jack looked back at them. ”Come on, hurry and get ready. Or are you already good to go?”
”Jack, what's going on?” asked Zariff. The large man blocked Jack from walking out of the room without giving a clear answer. ”The last time we saw you, you wouldn't say a word and were too sad to acknowledge our existence. Now, you're all smiles and wanting to leave somewhere?”
”Yup.” Jack nodded without hesitation. ”Now pack up, we need to leave ASAP!”
”But--”
”Oh! We also need Slivia's body to be preserved so it hasn't started decaying when we get back.” Jack looked up to Zariff. ”Can you make sure that happens before we go?”
The three men gave Jack a weird look. They each started having a few ideas since Jack had asked for Slivia to be preserved.
Maynard sighed, ”Jack, ya know she's gone, right?”
”Yeah.”
”And ya know that she can't come back, right?”
”Yeah,” Jack answered, letting them feel a bit better, at least until he finished his sentence. ”The only chance of getting her back is finding the nearby life spring, so we need to hurry.”
”Life spring?!” All of them were dumbstruck. Jack was mentioning a life spring like it was a common tourist attraction.
”Jack, it's not that simple,” said Rydel. ”We don't even know where to find those, how do you plan to do that before we leave for the federation? Just let her go, Jack, you'll have to at some point.”
”But I already know where it is.”
Again they were stunned into silence. They couldn't think of a way to reply. He had always surprised them before, so why not now?
”Ya really think we can find a life spring and get back before ya have to go?”
”Well yeah, otherwise I would've been forced to search for a naturally blessed item,” stated Jack, confusing the others even more.
”A naturally blessed item? What's that?” asked Zariff.
”That's unimportant now, so hurry and make sure her body is preserved before we leave. We don't have any time to waste!” Finishing with his quick orders, Jack skirted past Zariff and through the door. ”I'm off to see Zarris. Meet me at Salendar Manor so we can choose a beast for Rydel.”