Jade's Backstory

Ch 5 - A Crossed Calendar

    Excitedly, Jade attempted to get up. When he impulsively moved his arms and legs to position himself, he felt his clothes catch against his skin, gripping, and tearing at it. With the sudden shock from his fast movement, he froze, clenching his teeth together to avoid making too much noise. His limbs, mainly legs, were covered with multiple burns. Jade didn't know how severe, but it was bearable with smaller movements. Jade slowly gets up, wincing in pain every time parts of his clothes would fall, and shift around his body.
    Jade walks around the burnt clearing. Purple crystals were scattered everywhere, all coming out of the ground, and all with different sizes. Some were twice as tall as Jade, while others made their way to his shin. The further away from where Jade woke, the smaller the crystals seemed to get. The radius of the damage doesn't extend past the clearing. The stones that were once arranged were all scattered for whatever reason, and none of them had the chalk marks that were drawn on them.
    There was one more detail that haunts Jade to this day, one that was much more grim. After admiring nearly all the crystal spikes that were created, Jade had spotted one particular spike that was about the same height as him. The thing that made it catch his attention was the fact that is was a dark-red color. It had no shine to it, and looked a lot more rough- wait, was it dripping? On the ground around the spike, the grass was stained red, and a smeared line of red led into the woods. Jade wasn't stupid. He quickly realized what he had done.
    Jade took his book, and was about to start his walk back home. He stops himself when he starts thinking about his new powers. He opens the book, and starts skimming through to see how he could use his power at will. No luck. He tries looking through a little deeper, finding info about how people were able to find out themselves. It's different for everyone, but the book was able to point Jade towards playing with gestures. Like an idiot, he wildly swung his arms around. A waste of energy, and it only reminded him of the few burns around his torso. Jade could'nt figure it out. The ritual worked, right? He was able to bridge the gap between magic and humans (or re-bridge I guess), but he had no idea how to prove it. Jade crouches back down, realizing that his burns didn't feel as bad anymore. He was able to uncomfortably, but manage to sit, and ponder on this subject for a bit.
    He leans back, using his arms to support his weight. As he feels his hands and fingers run through the dirt, he eventually touches what feels like glass shift through his fingers. Out of surprise, he looks behind himself. When he lifted his hands out of the dirt, he could clearly see hand-prints of hundreds of tiny, purple crystals, just like the inner-surface of an amethyst geode. Curiously, he took his finger, and started to draw lines in the dirt. Sure enough, the same crystalline surface he created with his entire hand was now generated as a stroke in the dirt. Jade drew up a few small pictures. A few stick figures in the dirt, some buildings, some words, all like a child discovering sidewalk chalk. Jade found out that when he flicks his finger out of the dirt, crystals would keep generating in the direction he flicked. Depending on how hard, the crystals would usually grow in size, one after another, until the last, biggest crystal stopped growing.
    He decided to try making the lines of crystal spikes as big as he could. He took his hand like he was about to take a scoop of dirt, and threw it into the forest. A small plume arose, but the most damage he made was by throwing a fistful of dirt into the plants. He tried again. This time, less of a plume formed than before. Again, even less. It was as if the harder Jade tried, the weaker each flick was. Eventually Jade got extremely frustrated, and hit the ground with his fist. Crystals generated outward, much bigger than the few pebbles he created with the plumes and lines. They formed a circle around where his fist hit the ground, varying with position, and size. Speaking of size, the crystals he generated away from him were his height! He questioned his own safety, and decided to stop for now. He grabbed his book again, and headed back home, unknowingly being followed.
    The burns on Jade's skin now felt numb. They didn't dissapear completely, only enough for him to move normally. Jade had traveled half-way around the perimeter and back, when he found a white figure in the woods to his left. "Jade!" Dylan called out in relief. He ran out of the woods, dodging every potential danger he could've stepped in. "Where were you? I was so worried- why-" Just before embracing Jade, Dylan stopped himself; he saw the book Jade was holding. "Jade.. where did you get that?" Before Jade had the chance to answer, a voice from behind called out. "Well, long time no see, Dylan." The voice was feminine, yet deep. Immediately recognizing it, Dylan took Jade aside, telling him to "Get behind me".
    The owner of the voice was another suit of armor, this time with a more jagged and dark style. There was no helmet, her head was fully exposed. The wearer of the armor was a dark-skinned woman with graying short hair. She remarks: "I thought you were dead, consumed by the very fungus you studied."
    Dylan replies: "That death was supposed to be yours, but I suppose you've figured that out."
    Jade, slightly bewildered with Dylan's reply, looks up at him with question.
    Before Jade could utter a word, the woman had drawn a long-sword, the metal of it is as dark as the menacing armor she wore.
    "Jade, RUN!!" No hesitation, Jade bolted along the forest line towards the house. Almost tripping a few times, he held on strongly to the book he held. He sprinted as far as he could before realizing that Dylan was not with him. He slowed down, but didn't stop- not yet. He looked behind him, and couldn't believe his eyes. His father was facing off against the woman. She swung with her sword, and despite his age, Dylan would dodge without fail. Jade almost came to a halt when he noticed Dylan throwing glass vials at the woman. One flew into the forest, and a black rot had consumed everywhere the liquid splashed. Another had landed on the woman's armor, causing it to start melting; although, not deep enough to expose her. Potions? Wait, maybe acid? Wait- is this actual combat I'm witnessing?
    Jade slowly came to a stop as he anxiously marveled at his father's efforts. He stood there for a few seconds before realizing something. Jade started to run back towards Dylan's fight, but was interrupted by yet another figure coming out of the woods.
    She was an obvious low-level rouge with two daggers sheathed by her sides. She had black short hair, silky skin, and a higher-pitched feminine voice. "Nope! You are not going back there!" She scoops up Jade up with one arm, and starts dashing away from the fight.
    "No! Wait! I can help them!" "No, you can't! Your just a child!" Almost out of impulse, Jade took one hand of his book, and grabbed the rouge on the shoulder. Crystals formed over her shoulder-pad, and she could feel that same shoulder get heavier. Panacked, she immediately threw Jade to the side while she kept running. As she came to a halt, she clumsily (since the weight of the crystals threw her off-balance) faced Jade, and got into a battle stance. The way she threw him down had caused Jade to land flat on his back, effectively knocking the wind out of him. The book was also tossed out of the child's arms, tossed open on the ground. As Jade struggled to get up, the rouge slowly re-approached him, both daggers out and ready. She paused when she noticed the handprints Jade was putting in the dirt; handprints filled with that amethyst-like texture.
    "That's new." She says as she tenses down. She puts her daggers away, and tries to wipe off the crystals that formed on her shoulder-pad, but they wouldn't come off. They weren't that big, just heavier than what she was used to. They looked pretty, so she decided to keep it on. "Okay, for my own safety, I'm gonna lock your arm behind your back. Don't resist, or I won't hesitate to make it hurt." She goes to grab Jade's wrists while he was still on the ground, only he retaliated before she got the chance. Jade makes the motion to throw some dirt at her face, but instead generates a crystal spike as big as him, nearly impaling the rogue. She brings back the distance between herself and Jade, and immediately goes back into her battle stance.
    Jade runs in the opposite direction, back towards Dylan. This time, the rogue only watches. Eventually, she'll find the book Jade had thrown to the ground. Jade wouldn't see the book, or even the rogue again for a long time.
    Jade gets around the bend in the tree line, and again, gets withing sight of the battle. There were ugly spots of rot and decay spreading from where the battle was, and the armour of the woman had dissolved to the point where it was unrecognizable, yet, she remained safe inside. There was no stench though, only decay.
    As Dylan leaps to dodge the women's still-black longsword, he closes the distance between him and his opponent. Vial in hand, he smashes it into the side of the women's head. She backs off, and cowers in pain. "You'll pay for that!" She yells I'm rage. She then runs full force at Dylan, who again, jumps to the side to dodge. Having anticipated Dylan would make the same move yet again, she instantly swings her blade to the side, cutting into the scientist's abdomen. Failing to catch himself, Dylan falls hard into the ground.
    At this moment, Jade was up close. He had yet to process what he had witnessed, and went in to attack. Almost as soon as Dylan hit the ground, Jade has swung his arm as if to punch through the women's armour. Halfway through this action, he had realized he would only add a layer of crystals to the already decayed armor. He thinks of the ground, regretting to have forgotten about it. Before the gravity of the situation set into Jade's heart, the woman flew backward, almost as if she was hit by a freight train. Hitting a tree along the tree line, she finds herself crouching down, blood dripping, almost pouring out from a shattered point in her chest. Feeling panicked, shame, and anger, she immediately fled to seek medical attention.
    As the woman made her escape, Jade acknowledged the cause of her injury. A singular, massive crystal spike had erupted out of the ground next to him. It had so much force, it probably penetrated the women's armor as it launched her backwards. Jade had so many questions.. but all thoughts were interrupted when he remembered his father, who was laying in a fetal position a few meters away in dried, decayed, blood-soaked grass. The red had, and continued to spread away from below Dylan's wound, despite him trying his best to keep it covered with one arm. All he could do was lay there, near lifeless, and pray his child would be okay in the end.
    Jade urgently runs to Dylan. "No no no no no no no no..." Jade mutters while frantically trying to figure out a way to stop the bleeding. Faintly, Dylan says "Jade, it's too late. It's a deep wound.. look at how much is already in the dirt.."
    "No Dylan, I can figure something out! you'll make it, you have to make it-" Jade shakily takes off Dylan's lab-coat, which apparently had inner pockets; A few spare vials fell out.
    "Jade, please... I can barely breath anymore... everything I taught you is all I'll be now..."
    "No! Dad stop! There's no time for last words-" Jade quickly dumps all the vials out of Dylan's coat, and presses the coat against where Dylan's arm was covering his wound.
    "Jade!" Dylan yells in his final wind. It startles Jade. "I beg you to use this power for the best of this world! Please.. don't disappoint me..." Dylan loses focus, and rolls onto his back. Jade's adrenalin was fading. Slowly, he felt the realization set in.
    "Dylan..? DYLAN NO!!" Shaking, and traumatized to the core, the now lonely child could only scream, and sob his father's name until his throat got sore.
    A broken heart can kill. It's one of the worst types of pain in the world. Nothing can explain Jade's state other than pure agony. No amount of tears could extinguish the feeling of his heart being shattered into multiple shards of misery. He could swear it was physical, like someone had found a spell to physically grab his heart, and squeeze; only it was for sadistic reasons, no intent to kill, but every intent to torture, and inflict as much pain as possible. Nothing can, or will ever compare to this amount of pain that he had felt in the moment. Thankfully, although as unhealthy as it can get, the brain has a way to numb-out this feeling when it's all too much. Jade's emotional health was no longer a concern. He lost all ability to feel that day. He would live this way until he was seventeen.
    In their region, there was no police, or nearby doctors. There was no grid, and no way to account for the deaths of residents. Dylan was simply buried somewhere in the forest, left to be forgotten by everyone except Jade.
    Four years later, Jade would be found working in the lab. He isolated himself from the world, and shifted his entire effort in living towards completing his father's work. He was determined to be the one to find the forest's source, use it for the greater good, and complete his long lost father's legacy. This determination however, became an obsession. Jade would completely neglect his health, and his home, going days without a single thought to, or about himself. He would only care for himself enough to live through the next day, and hygiene wasn't talked about. Actually, Jade would go weeks, if not, months without saying a word. There was zero social interaction, and Jade only relied on what the forest provided for him, and what was yet to be broken in the lab.
    Jade's powers stayed. They weren't going anywhere. Everything Jade would touch with his bare skin would bloom into a hard, crystalline surface. It was a nuisance to have to scrape off everything he touched. Thankfully, his clothes, which had magic protection on them, would be unaffected. Jade took his first few weeks alone to basically reverse-engineer his own clothing, and painstakingly create enough fabric for an extra set of cloths, along with some thin pairs of gloves. They couldn't prevent every accident, however. Eventually, he would leave random spots of crystals all over the two small rooms he had. It wasn't like they added much to the mess...
    It was as if the entire place had gone through multiple earthquakes, and it was no longer worth putting things back on shelves, or wherever their places were. Something I forgot to mention was how the room was lit up by fluorescent lights, despite the technology available in that region. Actually, because they were so out of place, it was near-impossible to replace them. Jade wouldn't bother unless the last bulb shattered, the same as the rest of the mess that made up the room. This made the place look gloomy and dark, as there was only on fluorescent bulb left alive in the corner. The only things it lit up was the tool cabinet, which had of it's doors swinging on one hinge, and a calendar that had endured the wrath of an impatient boy. It had multiple pages torn out at random months, and pasted to the surrounding wall. If you looked at the details, you could see that every day was completely crossed out. "Another year wasted. No discoveries, no breakthroughs, nothing new learned, no progress gained." This was only one of many details and messes found in the lab, but this holds significance. The longer Jade was keeping himself in the lab, the shorter the years got. Years turned to months, months to weeks, weeks to days, until all memories blended together into a hideous mush.
    After talking himself into getting up, Jade goes to the desk to probe into a black mushroom. He makes a mistake, and blasts a hole in the wall. Being up close, it blasts Jade into the equipment on the other side of the room. Luckily, the blast mainly threw itself into the now broken wall, and only gave Jade a few bruises.. likely a broken rib as well. Oh well. He had accidents like this often, but always made a quick recovery. He believes this was the work of that ritual, as broken bones would heal within a matter of days, and without misalignment.
    While he was still laying in the pile of messed-up machinery, Jade looks into the new hole in the wall. Sunlight. It was so bright, warm, and inviting in this room that was so dark, cold, and messy. Jade got up, wincing slightly. It was only physical pain, nothing too bad. The mushroom had destroyed that desk, leaving enough room for someone of Jade's size to fit through. Jade walked closer. This was his first dose of sunlight since what felt like forever. One step out of the hole, his eyes were just about adjusted to the sun. It was mid-day, in the end of spring, amd the beginning of summer. One of the first things Jade noticed was that the hole led him straight underneath the shade, where he and Dylan used to prepare gunpowder, and hang out when they did some outdoor experiments. It wasn't as much of a shade as it was a near-skeleton of one now. Another step outside. The fresh air was enough to awake Jade. It was the most refreshing thing he had experienced.
    It must've been years since his last trip to the market. After careful consideration, he decided to go back to town. Little did he know, he wasn't coming back home for a long time.