Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 53 | Thad's Past

Everyone clambered onto a total of five ships, the women and children staying behind on the island and waving them goodbye as the water pushed them away from the island's shore and towards Renya's.

The Destigems had been separated into each ship. Agent 34 and Thad into the first, Vrängr and Arenia in the second, Marque and Ismara in the fourth, and Sercon in the fifth. If something were to happen to a ship on the way, the Destigems assigned to the boat could be able to handle it.

Agent 34 and Thad stood at edge of the ship, swaying from side to side as their ride did the same.

"Thad," he broke the silence. "Who are the Traverials?"

The dwarf shifted, not expecting such a question. He grunted, clearing his throat and preparing for an extensive answer. "The Traverials were a group similar to the Destigems. We went about Renya helping the land and stopping evildoers. We were heroes,"

"There were four of us. First up was Linx, the human. He was good with a bow and was usually sneaky. He was the kindest of all of us and never had a temper. I don't know what happened to him after our group decided to part ways. Rumor has it that he left Renya for good. I pray that he is still alive somewhere,"

"Then, there was Harper, the elf. She was the one that standardly used a blade and used it with elegance and swiftness. She was strongest in the group, apart from the dragon, of course. She normally regarded needs for sneaking, something Linx liked to do a lot, and normally exposed herself early on and eliminated anyone who tried to stop her. Somehow and some way, Braunick also took her memories for whatever reason. She remembers none of this but is still as elegant and swift as she used to be,"

"Then there's me. I was the dwarf of the group. I was the one that organized the things and got all of news of the baddies and such. I'd tell everyone when and where to go to catch a crook and such. I was the leader. My main weapon was my hammer, a weapon I became known for using around the continent. Sadly, the weapon broke from usage in our final fight with our rival,"

"The last one was Barjual. When I said me and him had a past, I meant it. He was the dragon of the group and our means of transportation. If anything needed torn down, he would do it. He normally let us fight the battles and came in for backup if we ever needed it. He was smart about what moves he made and what decisions he chose. He later moved back to his hometown, a hidden dragon city on the coast. I'm assuming his entire city was fleeing and came to the Zena and aided us in the battle with Braunick's Second Army. Most of them, however, perished due to Braunick's immense power. Barjual is the only one that made it out alive,"

"As for what happened to us, well, it's a long story," Thad explained.

"We have time," Agent 34 said. "Lots of it," he motioned to the boat that was sailing across the sea.

"Fine," the dwarf puffed. "We had managed to get a rival while we were doing all of this. His name was Surge. He was very powerful in the mind and managed to infiltrate us a ton during our battles. Surge always forced his way into our minds and tried to steal some of our memories, one by one. I never knew why he needed them, but if he ever succeeded in getting one then he would grow slightly physically stronger in our battles. In our last battle with him, we nearly destroyed an entire city. Both us and him and began to learn spellweaving and got too reckless with it. We brought down buildings and houses in our fight. We, the Traverials, just wanted to end our silly fights. The entire nation recognized both the Traverials and Surge as a hero-villain type situation. After nearly destroying the city, Linx managed to end the battle by beheading Surge,"

"After our last fight with Surge, we decided to end things while we were ahead. The Traverials parted ways, each of us going to do better things with our lives. I see where Harper and Barjual have ended up, but Linx is still missing. Perhaps we will run into him another day,"

Agent 34 felt queasy. He gripped the handrail of the boat, steadying himself. He ignored Thad as the dwarf began to ask if he was alright.

His mind quivered, body beginning to shake. Agent 34 didn't know what to think of this. Suddenly, four images appeared in his mind. The images were familiar. He had seen all of them when he first awoke in the desert.

The first image was one of a dragon, a dragon that he now recognized as Barjual. The next was an elf with long white hair, who he believed to be a younger version of Harper. She had a blade in her hand, delicate designs going throughout. The next was Thad, a thick helmet planted on his head and a brown bushy beard coming below it. He had his signature hammer clasped in his hands above his head, ready to swing at anyone.
The last was different. It was a human with bloodshot red eyes, a hood covering half of his face. His muscles were clenched, and in his hands was a red bow. He looked a little different and Agent 34 didn't recognize this man immediately, but he seemed familiar to him despite never meeting him. He assumed this was the man named Linx, someone Agent 34 had heard about a bit.

"Answer me," Thad told him, Agent 34 snapping back to reality. He snapped his fingers in front of his face, trying to gather his attention. Agent 34 pushed the dwarf out of the way for a minute to rethink what he had just gone through.

"Don't ignore me!" the dwarf told him. "What just happened?"

"I–" the elf began, turning towards him. "I just got some of my memories back,"