Beyond Gods 48 Revealing Our Cards

There was a flash of light and Johan and Jade found themselves standing on a large grey stone platform at the top of a gra.s.sy mountain. Various herbs and vegetation grew in abundance around them. It smelt of spring. Little droplets of moisture dripped from the petals of nearby trees and plants. The sky was bright blue and illuminated by a single sun, much like earth. It was clear that they were not in the Looking Gla.s.s Realm anymore.

Several strange objects caught Johan's attention.

A large lake that was on fire could be seen in the distance to the west of them. In the sky above the lake, what appeared to be a black dragon flew in and out of white clouds.

A hedge maze could be seen to the north and a large glacial cave to the south.

To the east a lone stone castle stood. Behind it, an ominous fog clouded the view. In the fog a red lightening periodically struck revealing the shadow of a large moving creature.

"Welcome back la.s.s," said a strong Irish voice, "'tis a grand ta see a fine thing such as yourself."

They turned to see a green leprechaun the size of a five year old child sitting on the edge of a black pot filled with golden coins. It had orange hair, pale white skin, a tall green hat and matching suit.

"h.e.l.lo Sheamus," said Jade smiling, "and thank you. You are looking handsome yourself."

"A girl after my own heart," said Sheamus smiling. "Have a coin luv, I love givin ta pretty girls. Seems natural. Whose the bloke?"

Sheamus tossed a coin to Jade. She caught it.

"Thanks Sheamus," said Jade.

"My name is Johan, Jade's friend."

Sheamus raised an eyebrow and said, "Her mot?"

"No Sheamus," said Jade, "we are here to train."

"Are you a Leprechaun?," asked Johan.

Sheamus clenched his fist as his face turned red.

"Leprechaun!?," growled Sheamus, "ARE YA A EEJIT!? THAT be a derogatory word from the days we be hunted and robbed. If ya weren't Jade's friend I'd clean my pot with ya. Call my people Greens."

Johan stepped back surprised by the Sheamus's strong reaction.

"I apologise," said Johan, "on earth the term is used. You are considered mysterious and respected beings of legend and folklore. Most a.s.sume that you don't exist. I never met a Green before."

Sheamus's expression softened, "Ahhh, a new arrival. At least you aren't after my pot of gold. Respected, aye? Things be changin. The L word reminds me of days I be relentlessly stalked. Many of my kins got robbed, murdered or be enslaved. Some sold as s.e.x slaves. Human-Green off springs be havin green eyes n orange hair ya know ... didn't exist before they raped our women. This land is salvation. Those who saved us took us to this utopia. Here, we found peace."

"Sheamus," said Jade, "please give us our training tasks."

"Hmmmm," said Sheamus eyes glowed green as he looked Johan up and down, "you are a particular one. Perhaps new swords would be good to you."

"Swords?," asked Johan.

"Ya," said Sheamus nodding, "go to the lake of fire, you be findin one at the bottom, the next is in the fog ... if you are lucky."

"How about me?," asked Jade.

"You?," said Sheamus, "You be deservin a dress ta protect your beauty. Go ta the ice cave. It be a waitin."

"How will this prepare me for the fight tournament?," asked Johan.

"It won't do," said Sheamus, "but the swords will make ya a bloke ta be reckoned with. No supplement here would be good for you la.s.s, not at your current level. Your body be stronger than most at ya level. St.u.r.dy one, aren't ya. What have ya been eatin?"

"So basically," said Johan, "I came here for no reason? I need to fight and win in the tournament."

"Hmmmm," said Shaemus crinkling his forehead.

Slowly, a mischievous grin spread across Shaemus's face.

"The castle," said Shaemus, "enter it, n defeat the ghouls within... ya fail, youl become a ghost prisoner of the castle for eternity ... but ta succeed means opportunities beyond ya imagination."

"No," said Jade, "this is one of those dangers Kru Bu warned us about. It is above everyone's level who is here."

Johan looked curiously at the castle.

"Is there anything else I can do?," asked Johan.

"For you?," said Shaemus, "no ... nothin I wanna give. But, you can try n pillage the other trainees of their items ... or each other ... or ya can find the map of where all de resources bein. No one has yet ... He! He! He!"

With that, Shaemus turned into a rainbow and disappeared with his pot.

"So," said Johan, "what should we do first? He basically told me this place is gonna waste my time."

"Lets not think of that now. We should catch up," said Jade, "I have some questions. I wanted to get you alone for some time."

Jade sat on the floor.

"We should really make the most of our time here," said Johan, "I don't want to get weaker from lack of training."

"Don't worry," said Jade, "this will be short. You will get your due, don't you worry about that. Sit."

Jade sat on the stone floor.

"Something on your mind?," asked Johan.

"Yes," said Jade, "I have been trying to make sense of things."

"How you got here?," asked Johan, "why you and no one else? I asked myself those questions at some point."

"Oh, I know the answers to those ... I was raped," said Jade looking at Johan coldly, "by these men in an alley. While I was in the hospital recovering, people from Looking Gla.s.s Kingdom came and offered me a way to get retribution."

Johan felt his heart sink. He realised that because of the time reset, he hadn't shown up to save Jade. He hadn't realised it at the time.

"That is terrible," said Johan.

"It was," said Jade, "I was a virgin, it hurt ... a lot. I caught an STD. I can't get rid of it. I got pregnant. The stress caused me to have a miscarriage. This was all before I was even eighteen."

Johan felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. It became clear to him that he was responsible for Jade getting raped. He had requested Gadra reset time, if he hadn't Jade wouldn't have been raped. The time reset had made things worse, he hadn't been able to save his parents, and this had caused Jade to get raped. But was he responsible for things he couldn't antic.i.p.ate? It hadn't been intentional.

How could he have stopped it?

So many unexpected things had happened that day.

"Did the people responsible get caught?," asked Johan.

"All but one," said Jade, "the people who took me to Looking Gla.s.s Kingdom, offered me a chance to get retribution."

"I see," said Johan, "things like that are hard to let go of. Me and my friend were was thrown in the pit for ten years on a whim by this women. I got out last year. Thus, I understand what it is like to have precious moments of your youth stolen from you."

"It broke me," said Jade.

"You don't have to stay broken," said Johan.

"I felt powerless," said Jade as her eyes teared up, "every moment I was awake I wanted them dead. It changed me. I remember starting relations.h.i.+ps, and having men break up with me once they learn't that I was infected. Do you know how that feels?"

"I don't," said Johan, "but I understand."

"No!," yelled Jade hitting the floor with a clenched fists, "YOU DON'T! NO ONE CAN!"

The floor cracked around where her fist made contact with it.

"Is everything alright Jade?," asked Johan.

He had the aching suspicion that Jade knew he had been responsible for the time reset and indirectly for her being unable to escape that situation.

"Did you know that time was reset on earth?," said Jade slowly, "in a previous version of time, I was not raped. I didn't have to endure all that pain ... if you were me, would you consider the people who reset time responsible for what happened to me?"

Johan flinched. He knew that she knew. Those looks of anger he thought Jade been giving him were not his imagination.

Jade's pupils constricted as she stared intently at Johan. She made no effort to hide her hatred.

"Listen Jade," said Johan.

"I killed each and everyone of them," said Jade, "the men who raped me. But it still wasn't enough."

"There are intentional," said Johan, "and unintentional mishaps, we can't hold people responsible the repercussions of the things that they didn't mean to happen due to circ.u.mstance. We aren't G.o.ds or super smart beings."

"You never killed before, have you?," said Jade, "let me tell you something about murder, about revenge ... it feels good."

"Who helped you?," asked Johan, "you weren't a killer."

"Does it matter?," asked Jade, "you just confirmed what I thought is true with your reaction. YOU BROKE ME!"

Johan felt terrible, because deep down, he knew she was right. But he wasn't ready to die here by Jade's hands. He didn't feel she had the right to kill him for something he didn't mean to do. He didn't wan't Armyka to live happily ever after. Armyka had known what she was doing, she had tourmented him. Johan felt his anger was justifiable while Jades was not.

Johan let his bag fall off his back. Then he carefully grasped his sword sash. Jade was dangerous.

"You know," said Johan, "in the alternative timeline we were friends. Before the reset. Do you remember that?"

"You a friend!? You filthy liar!," hissed Jade as she stood up aggressively clenching her fist, "friends don't get friends raped!"