Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 15

Verse 14 –12 Strongest (secondBallad)

Jyro sat in his room at the dorm and starredin wonder at his cursed arm, he flexed and clenched his hands, it moved justlike his normal hand and responded just the same but from time to time he’dfeel an ominous sensation coming from within the arm and say by day thatsensation grew stronger. “Jyro are you ready yet “screamed Johnny from theother side of the door, “I’ll be just a second “ he replied ,Jyro quickly wrapped his hand andarm with bandages tightly woven then put on his gloves and proceeded out thedoor, “ ill catch you later Sebastian “ he said whilst he walked out his room.The two boys were on their way to Mongoleys shop, since rumours began spreadingthat the strongest 12 event will be happening very soon, so Tristine SuggestedJyro visit Mongoley and gets equipped. Whilst the two boys strolled through theAcademy campuses they suddenly came across a peculiar girl who was rollerskating through the gardens, the two of them stopped and begun admiring thegirl who was weaving in and out of the walking students, her silky flamecoloured hair trailed behind her as she dashed and twirled around in the sun,she turned towards the boys direction and gazed towards them with her bronzecoloured eyes. The girl noticed the two boys gawking at her, as she removed hergoggles and flicked her hair back the two boys began nervously muttering tothemselves thinking about what they’ll say. “Why hello you two and do Ipossibly owe you two something huh” the girl said sarcastically, her eyes thenfixated on Jyro “… wait a sec your Jyro Thomas right, yeah you are you’re theguy with Lightning brand…haha its true you are cute” she said , Jyro was offguard by the girls words and didn’t know what to respond back with, to thedispleasure of Johnny of course who started puffin up in envy, “ ahem…And I’mhis best friend, genius tactician Johnny Albertsonn pleasure to meet you my fairmaiden” spoke Johnny “ Fair Maiden?”repeated Jyro, “ who even talks like that anymore” Jyro said, “ haha nice tomeet you Johnny.. You don’t remember me do you, we met briefly at the showcaseevent, my names Madison Scarlet but you can call me Maddy for short” winked thegirl. The girls cheeky wink sent smiles forming on the two boys faces “Nice tomeet you Maddy…err we were just on our way to get ready for the Event coming upI heard it was taking place soon” explained Jyro “ oh really you heard it wastaking place soon did ya? well Let me give you a hint a little birdy of minetold me it could start as early as tonight” Madison whispered to the two boys,“now don’t say your big sis didn’t help you out now yeah haha I’ll be lookingforward to the event guys, try go easy on me ok” she said cheekily beforeskating away into the distance.

Bynow it was already noon, and Jyro and Johnny had just made it to town. “HeyJyro you think Madison was telling the truth about tonight” Johnny Asked, “pftt no clue mate, but Its best to be ready for anything I suppose” RepliedJyro , the bells chimed as they entered the shop. “Ay laddies welcome I waswaiting for youz , I got something for ya” Mongoley proceeded to the back for afew moments , the two boys simply stood there in wait and stareda round blankly.Mongoley then emerged from the back holding a few things in his arms, he placedthe items on the counter than began to explain them to the two young boys,” alrightJohnny, I heard you’ll be Jyros support during the event so your gunna needsome protection, hear ya go these should be of use to ya” Mongoley handedJohnny pieces of light armour, a small pocket sized dagger and a monoculartelescope , “ whoa how am I going tocarry all this stuff” yelped Johnny, Mongoley then brought out a pouch, thesame pouch he found in the forest. “Wait Mongoley you sure it’s safe to givehim that “Jyro stressed, “Ay It’ll be alright lad it’ll do you boys more goodthan it will just lying here, so take it”, Johnny caught the pouch then lookedat Jyro in confusion “what am I supposed to do with this thing” bewilderedJohnny, “why don’t you try placing those things inside one by one” said Jyro.Johnny begun placing each item inside the pouch, as each item went in herealised no weight seemed to add to the pouch and the items disappearedinside,” wait what the… where did they go” he placed his hands inside the pouchand pulled the armour out” Whoa it’s still here…wow that’s sooo cool , cheersMongoley” said Johnny whilst he played around with the pouch , “oh and for youMr Thomas you’ll need this”, Jyro was handed a short dagger that bend slightlyat its tip its hilt was bronze with small engravings on the side, he embracedthe weapon and begun waving and slashing the sword through the air.” It lookslike you’re a natural ay, it suits your hand perfectly” Mongoley boasted,whilst Jyro swung the sword softly through the air he looked closer at thesteel and noticed the tiny engravings along it “What’s these markings on it” heasked, “mmmm its one of the oldest and rarest swords I’ve owned so I don’t evenknow myself, it looks like one of those old Arabic languages probably ‘Hebrew’,Jyro received the sheath for the short sword and tied it on his waist. Jyrolooked around the shop and noticed Liam wasn’t around” Liam off on an errandthen” he asked” nope the young boys gone and gotten himself ill so I told himto stay indoors till he got better, I’ll let him know you stopped by… wish you twothe best of luck alright” Mongoley then rubbed both of the boys on their headsand said his final goodbye to them.

Nighttime drew onto Canta City and Jyro lay in his bed with his sword still admiringit. Whilst he was dazzling at the sight of his new weapon he heard peckingsounds coming from his window, so he quickly drew his curtains open to see whatit was. Flying outside his window was a black crow holding an envelope in itsbeak, the moment Jyro opened his windows the crow threw the letter at him thenflew away. He quickly got up and picked up the letter he opened it up and itread...” Dear 12 chosen E graders, please get yourselves ready and report tothe main hall as quickly as possible, please also gather your chosen helper onthe way and bring them with you……” your task will begin in 20 minutes (taskmission below)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Yourto travel to the town of keddesh located 30 miles West from the City, when youget there your task is to locate the Crystal castle in ruins ,within you’llreplace the red treasure , the first of you to obtain it will win the task….Goodluck”.

Jyrogot dressed put on his long brown jacket, and gathered his things. Jyro knewhe’d be gone for a while so he hugged his little cub friend then departed out.Knock Knock Knock sounds suddenly turned into Bang Bang, “alright-alright I’mcoming erg who’s banging my door at this time” said Johnny whilst opening hisdoor,” Johnny get dressed it’s time to go , here look at this” Jyro handed overthe letter to Johnny who then begun skimming through it” OH Blimey its time..It’s time for the EVENT!” screeched Johnny who frantically scurried back intohis room to hastily get himself dressed.

Johnnyeventually got himself all packed and ready, to the “much distaste of Jyro whowaited for about 15 minutes for his friend , “ oh Shoot!, we’ve only got 3minutes left, come on were gunna have to run for it” Jyro stressed. They bothbegun running through the Academy halls, whilst they raced along the marbletiled floorings the noise they both generated was enough to probably wake upevery student sleeping, the Chapel doors was ahead of them. ‘Creaaak…! Slam!The two doors flung open with Jyro and Johnny flying through them….“We’re…here… we made it” panted Johnny, the two boys arrived in the hall werethe rest of the 11 were all gathered with their helpers all scowling at the twolate comers. Tristine sat on the bench shaking her head at her two friends latearrival, “well nice for you two to join us…finally” said the headmistress whowas addressing the kids prior to the boys outburst “shall we begin then, I expectyou all have read your Task brief so I won’t bother going over that again,you’ll be needing these” the headmistress handed the students a folded piece ofpaper, Jyro opened it up and saw it was a small map.” Now then that’s abouteverything the Task will start the moment you cross Cantas border and you’vegot 4 days to complete it, good luck”. “Oh yes one more thing, you’ll all bereleased out the gates in the order you entered the hall” the headmistress thenbegun calling out the names of the students in order of their arrival and thetime difference between each students arrival from the last is the time they’llhave to wait before leaving, once Jyro and Johnny realised they’d probably bethe last two they decided to take a seat and analyse the map. “Mmm so lookslike there’s two routes to Keddesh , we can either take the road along themountain or cut through the mainland’s and take this narrow path which lookslike the quicker option” said Johnny,” then wont everyone be taking the shorterroute then” questioned Jyro “ well logically that would be the wise choice butlook closely the mainland’s is completely covered in red meaning there’s a highrisk will encounter lesser demons whereas the mountain road is clear and itsgreen meaning chances of demons are practically 0” said Johnny. Jyro realisedthe two of them had a decision to make about which route they’ll be taking,”I’ll leave it to you Johnny you are the Ducem out of the two of us so ill trustyour choice” Jyros words touched Johnny who tried his best to not crack a smile”ahem , ok will be doing this we’ll take the mountain route but we won’t befollowing the path, judging by the structure I’m guessing the height of themountain isn’t that tall meaning we can simple cross through it… yeah that’swhat will do” Johnny realised since they’d be released late their going to haveto make a lot of ground to catch up with the others. “ Mr Thomas & MrAlbertsonn……EXCUSE ME YOU TWO” screamed the headmistress startling the twoboys,” your waiting times over, you may leave” the two of them looked around the hall and realised everyone hadleft. Jyro and Johnny finally were on their way, they approached the entrancegate and heaved it open, the first thing they saw was the bright white spherein the sky and they remembered it was night time so precaution had to be takenwhilst they travelled.

Upontheir imminent departure the two boys were halted by the two gate Guards LittleBen and Big Pete, “elo elo there look who it is Ben” “why I see who it is Pete”“It’s that boy” “indeedy it is that boy again” whilst the two men rhythmicallyexchanged amongst each other Jyro and Johnny simply looked on in annoyance atthe two wondering what they even wanted. “Erg what do these two want now” stressedJohnny “guys I’d love to chat but were already running late plus its gettingquite dark so…”, “oh don’t fret golden haired youth we only pester for areason” “indeedy Boy don’t sulk we came bearing gifts” “the Gift of a message”said both men simultaneously, “well go on then what is the message” Jyro asked,the two men then begun to converse between each other trying to remember themessage,” ahemm oi you two, yeah you twiddle Dee and dumb please relay thismessage to the last two boys who come out, they must walk east for 2 miles tillthey reach the stone lodged under the bridge when they get there I’ll bewaiting “ Jyro and Johnny were hesitant after receiving the message,” can youdescribe to us how the person looked” the two boys asked,” mmmmmm Blue hair Ithink right ben” “mmmmmm yeah blue hair Pete she was the one who set that demonon us before friend “ “ahhh indeed indeed she was that one”, the moment theyoung boys heard the person had Blue hair they immediately knew it wasTristine.

2miles east is where they began walking they had covered about 1 ¼ when Johnnybegan having ill thoughts about the whole matter,” Seriously Jyro I’m not 100%about this to be honest yeah I know she’s our friend and everything but rightnow were all against each other what’s to say she isn’t laying a trap for us”Johnny said whilst he continued pitching theories of Tristines betrayal, “don’tworry Johnny Trish isn’t like that, so let’s hurry up and get a move on we’realready late”. The two boys eventually made it to the required destination,they stood afar and saw the huge stone which lay in the river stream under thebridge,” I don’t see Tristine anywhere mate, be on guard it might be a set up”as soon as Johnny finished his sentence an arrow whizzed past his face andlanded right in front of the two, “and what exactly must you two be on guardfrom” said a voice, which turned out to be none other than Tristine. The young girlwas perched atop a branch, clothed in dark coloured cloak, “ what took you guysso long” said Tristine while dropping down from the tree “ Well it looks likeyou’ve been enjoying yourself considering your using arrows till greet peoplenow” said Johnny “ haha don’t whine about it Johnathan we haven’t crossed theborder yet so it’ll be illegal to take you out” winked Tristine , “but quicklyfollow me I’ve got something for us” the young girl then lead the two boys overthe bridge and down a steep path, till they arrived at what looked like anabandoned stable. (Sigh) “You do know where literally going in the opposite wayTrish” Johnny stressed,” just shhh for a second were almost there” Jyro couldhear feint sounds coming from the abandoned stable, the exterior of the shackwas rundown with the roof half missing, it was clear nothing had lived insideit for a very long time. When the kids entered the shack Tristine took out aflash light and continued leading the two boys, they slowly walked through thedarkness when a shadowy figure suddenly towered over the boys, the presencestartled Johnny who screamed in fear,” woah take it easy, down boy down” saidTristine, Jyro slowly approached the shadow then realised it wasn’t a monsteror demon but a horse. “This guy look familiar to you Jyro” smirked Tristine,Jyro moved closer to the animal and recognised it perfectly, its left eye wasdark brown and its right eye was blue and it had a white patch on its brow, itwas the black horse he tamed from the stables. Jyro was both surprised andhappy to see the stead again,” w..w..what is that thing” Johnny squelchedwhilst slowly gathering himself up, “ it’s only a horse you bigbaby,(sigh) honestly Jyro I don’tunderstand why you brought him along”, Jyros didn’t hear what his two friendswere squabbling about his attention was fully focused on the horse as he begunpetting and talking to it. “It’s good to see you two getting along, my unclesaid he hasn’t allowed anyone to ride him since he met you so he sent him andalong with my stead” said Tristine,” hey wait a minute are we allowed to ridethose I’m particularly sure it’s stated in the laws that…”! The black horsebegun neighing towards Johnny who immediately cowered behind Jyro, “Anyway Jyromount your steed and I’ll meet you out front, mines in the other room” Jyromounted his horse who slowly begun to settle down and relax more, he proceededoutside with his horse when Tristine came dashing on her stead from around thecorner, “wow it’s just like before he’s not even reacting” said Tristine as shemarvelled at Jyro and his horse, she then looked back at Johnny who was stillstanding cautiously away from the horses “ come on now Johnny jump on, withthese will cover twice us much ground now” Johnny remain silent and slowlyclutched onto Jyros hands as he helped lift him up behind him , the horsebecame slightly agitated, “whoa easy boy he’s not a bad guy alright he’s myfriend so you got to let him ride you as well” said Jyro to the horse the horsegrunted and puffed “ haha that’s my boy” Jyro replied, “ now where all setlet’s get a move on shall we… oh yeah you haven’t given him a name yet Jyro?Tristine asked. Jyro slowly pondered on a name he then looked down at the horseand said “Boanerges …that’s his name”, the 3 kids and their two horses then setoff back west dashing through the wind onwards to the task.