The room was filled with awkward silence. Axel was distracted in the middle of his statement, and his Journal sent an update notice to his vision. From their reactions, Sky and Aria also received the notice. Axel quickly read the notice and was shocked at what he saw.
Journal Entry added Lyra Windchime.
Axel then began to read through the entry as the worry gnawed at his heart and what he saw was not great news, but the end gave them something to work with. Jareth noticed that something was going on but kept quiet while Roran looked at his companions with confusion.
“Did something happen?” Roran asked after a short time of no one talking.
“Something indeed happened.” Aria was the first to reply then looked to Axel and Sky before continuing. “We just received some valuable information and hope for this situation.”
“Oh?” Jareth leaned forward saying. “Interesting, did you have a mentalist send you something?”
Aria raised a finger to that question and looked at Sky but instead of relaying the messages like normal Sky linked the three together, something she rarely did even when they were in combat. The meshing of thoughts was much cleaner to Axel without a lot of the random emotions or whispers of intrusive thoughts that had happened before.
‘I received some help from an elder while I was away last night.’ Sky sent her voice light and clear in Axel's mind. ‘I should be of much more help now.’
‘Sky you were always helpful,’ Aria sent back seeming to pick something up from their friend's words that Axel was not. ‘While I want to talk to you about that Sky, now is not the time to, what are we going to do about our knowledge from the Goddess? Lyra told me she passed the blessing to Roran during her time with him, but do we trust Jareth with this knowledge?’
‘Well Aria, the question is more, what options do we have without his help?’ Axel asked a different question. ‘I am short on personal resources, I have no idea about Sky’s contacts, Roran is an outcast to his family with likely no external help, and from what I know of you while you have interesting contacts with the shady side of the world you have your foster mom or our teacher for any intelligence resources.’
‘I have a few but everyone I know is located around Greenhaven. I can contact any network but that could be listened to by someone paid for the information.’ Sky said with a sigh of regret. ‘Most of the people I know are in the crafting field, from my Master and a few of his friends to other apprentices I worked with over my time with master. I really did not leave the workshop much before meeting you and Aria’
‘That is fine Sky,’ Aria said and leaned back in her seat in thought for a bit. ‘My resources are not good for this or have their own issues where they would not help even if I called in a favor now. Weaver is a scary name in the underworld and that would mean Aria would need to lean on some just to get any information from them.’
‘We really need to talk about your time before me sometime sweet.’ Axel sent and gave her a side hug. ‘From the sound of the conversation we are bringing Jareth in on our secret?’
‘Assuming that he has the resources.’ Aria sent to the group.
‘I am not happy about it but don’t see any other options.’ Sky sent it just after Aria.
Jareth looked between Axel, Aria, and Sky with interest before saying. “I take it from your body language Axel you have decided on something important. Also Sky I see you have gotten past your handicap.”
The statement threw Axel off from replying as Sky shifted side to side before her voice very quietly sent to everyone. ‘I received help from an elder last night.’
“I was unaware there was a cure for thual condition,” Jareth said aloud his gaze locking on Sky.
‘It is not something I wish to talk about now and we should be going over something else.’ Sky sent with a firm tone in her mental voice.
“Fair and I apologize as my curiosity got the better of me,” Jareth said to Axel and motioned for him to continue.
Axel had no idea what thual condition was but now was not the time to and reached for a pen and piece of paper. Axel then began to write out the journal entry that he had received before handing it over to Jareth. Jareth took the paper with a raised eyebrow before beginning to read it and a look of disbelief crossed his face.
“This is an interesting fictional piece here,” Jareth said while holding the paper in his hands. "I find it hard to believe that you somehow have a current Journal entry from Lyra.”
Axel relaxed in the seat before looking Jareth dead in the eyes until the other man blinked. Axel then sent a mental journal update asking for the Goddess to do them a favor to help with Lyra’s rescue.
“I know you would, but our group has a secret that we have been keeping from you all this time,” Axel said but paused for a short moment hoping the Goddess would help him. She must have been paying attention to Axel’s group as Jareth jerked in shock a short time later.
“You, you, you have contact with the Goddess?” The shock in Jareth’s voice finally broke the calm demeanor that he always seemed to show. Roran also was looking shocked as he seemed to have received something though Axel never asked for that.
“Yes ever since I went down for my first trial.” Axel started and began to explain to Jareth and Roran his group's contact with the Goddess. After Axel finished Aria had returned to the seat and sat next to Axel waiting for Jareth to process what was revealed to him.
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“This is an unexpected surprise, and I can now see why you are trusting me,” Jareth began while reaching into his vest to pull out a pipe and fill it. He then lit it but stayed silent while seeming to think about everything.
Roran also seemed to be taking this well for now or was too shocked to talk about what he learned while staying near the door. Jareth was quiet for a long time when he snuffed out his pipe and seemed much more relaxed in his posture.
“For the first time in years, I can see a little hope,” Jareth started and the joy in his voice felt much more natural than it had been. “When I first broke Weaver’s control over me I had destroyed his base but I could not locate his main base again. I have discovered many outposts but never his main nest.”
“Do you think you can find it now?” Aria asked taking Axel’s hand in hers while also leaning forward.
“With this advantage, I won’t be able to track it with just this,” Jareth tapped the paper. “With a bit of time, I should narrow it down, but we have another issue. Weaver will be hard to attack, and your group is too weak to take my nieces or any of his other guards.”
“I have an idea for that,” Axel leaned in this time to match Aria. “There is something I found while dealing with my proto core and if you take in a power, but have it purged your core gets stronger. If we do this we could greatly increase our energy storage.”
“Are you talking about selective purges?” Roran cut in now from the entranceway. “This is a technique some use when they are stuck at the end of Adept or even Expert in the house. I would not recommend it as you need a blessed healer and while the first time it increases a lot the increase gets smaller every time.”
“Aria have never heard of this before,” Aria looked over at Roran while saying. “But it could help us bridge the energy gap.”
“Do you know another healer that could do this?” Jareth interrupted from his seat while wisps of smoke still hung in the air around him.
“I have the ability to do it to myself and the Goddess can unlock this for others,” Axel said with confidence he was far from truly feeling but given what he knew should be possible. “Roran does anyone do this in the Novice stage?”
“No, because blessed healers are expensive, and most warriors will pass through Novice quickly,” Roran explained while thinking. “I only really know about it as our house has had several blessed healers come from our line.”
“Well we are pushing the speed of our cycle quickly and I don’t know of any other way to get stronger without risking backlash.” Axel put out to the group. “We cannot slowly go about things and I plan to train and do this in the trial as we will be watched closely by this Weaver guy.”
“You are not wrong young Axel,” Jareth nodded to Axel’s point. “Weaver will be watching you and with that bounty, you will be harassed often to keep you slowed down. He needs you or Aria alive for his brainwashing plans, but he will need to keep you weaker than Lyra. Knowing Weaver, he will also accelerate her training to get it completed before you can do anything about it.”
“Aria is wondering,” Aria asked while looking at Jareth. “Why did he want Lyra so badly? While a blessed healer is rare they are not that rare.”
“What is rare is a blessed healer that is not already tied to the Order,” Jareth replied with a shake of his head. “I don’t know how, but Lyra is somehow not already in a cloister or their training grounds being protected. Even Weaver will not mess with the Order and now he has his hooks into a free healer to do things like selective purges, and enhancement programs, and she would make a very good assassin.”
“I do have some things that can help your group get stronger,” Jareth added seeming to already be on board with working with Axel’s group. “First we have everything from the hunt, and you should be able to use the Adept cores after you complete your third cycle but you all will get through them quickly. I will also give you all the meat we collected and will sell everything else for operational funds.”
“That works but we will still need to work for about three months before we could even attempt to become an Adept,” Axel said after doing some rough math in his head trying to keep the fear welling up with leaving Lyra with that monster for so long.
“Your group is already pushing how fast you can do your cycle with only having completed your first trials in about two months’ time.” Jareth pled to the group. “I want to help you, but you are advancing at about as fast as you can now. Most people, even when eating the appropriate food and having a core every now and then still would need four to five to be at your point let alone someone who cannot get cores and needs the whole year to reach your point. Like I explained I can supply you the cores and meat, but your bodies are likely struggling to process.”
“I agree with the merchant,” Roran said from the side. “It will not do Lyra any help if we try to save here being a wreck from pushing too much.”
Roran then shut up as Axel, Aria, and Sky all turned to look at him at almost the same time. Axel knew that both Jareth and Roran were right, but time was not on their side. Axel then ran through everything his father and mother talked about while training, but he was still coming up with a blank. Axel looked at Aria to see if she had anything, but she seemed to have nothing to add either.
As Axel began to despair the universe slowed down again before him. Sitting on the desk was the Goddess but dressed in black. Axel knew right away that this was the crimson in him and prepared to fight off whatever temptation it was about to give him.
“What is with those thoughts Axel,” The crimson said. “I have been nothing but helpful to you in your struggles so far in your life. I kept you from being crippled, helped you save your love, fought off your memories being stolen, and gave you the power to fight someone who was well above your life level.”
“You are a crimson, and you are just looking to exploit me.” Was Axel’s only reply as he could not argue with the crimson’s statement.
“Now, now, Axel be nice as I can help you increase your strength, but it will be risky.” The crimson’s voice was husky with anticipation. “All you have to do is instead of following your silly Goddess’s plan to on your fourth power conquer a being of the next life level. This will allow you to get stronger much faster while surprising your enemy.”
“No,” Axel denied it with all of his being. “Anytime someone has tried to subvert the Goddess’s plan they have met with backlash and corruption.”
“But you are stronger than those people,” The crimson reached over and tried to touch Axel’s face though her hand passed through it. “You have me and once your life level goes up you can purge all the corruption out of you. You can be so much more than you are now with your running and hiding from lesser entities who try to hinder you.”
“No!” Axel forced through again with all of his will.
“Fine but please think it over.” The crimson said again, and time again resumed its steady march.
Nothing had changed in the room besides a few seconds passing by while everyone thought about anything that could help.
“There are things that could help you process faster, but I don’t know if I could source them for you.” Jareth finally said. “There are medicines that can be made but only powerful families, higher-ups in the various organizations, or having contacts with one of the above to get.”
“Is there any way to get it?” Aria asked in interest now that a solution was shown to the group.
“I will look but I cannot promise you anything as I have never tried to get it before.” Jareth shook his head in reply.
“Well, our first step then will be still getting our third powers and doing some selective purging,” Axel said while committing to the plan, but he did notice Roran shiver at the thought. Axel also vowed that he would not listen to the crimson as he felt there was a trap hidden in there beyond the normal pitfalls.
