Jack: "Thanks, man."
He says while nodding.
Jack: "You really saved my ass."
He says in his cool-boy tone while still sitting on the ground with Lenny all over him.
Henry: "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have beaten him."
Henry nods toward the scorched wall—the memory of purple lightning still buzzing in the air.
Henry: "To be honest, I heard stories about Beasts, but I never saw a Dragon-type Beast before."
Lenny: "Yeah, they are suuuupeeer rare, one of the rarest types, and on top of that, big.
bro even has a rare Drago-"
Before he could end his sentence, Jack shoved away Lenny, indicating that he should stop talking and finally let loose of him.
Jack: "Anyways, what even is that stone the guy had been trying to kill us for?"
The alley settles into a wary quiet. The stink of mud and smoke lingers. A drip echoes from a broken gutter. Henry, Jack, and Lenny exchange a look—then the unspoken truth lands: this all started with a "stone."
Previously, Jack, Lenny, and Henry had been attacked by an evil man named Balte. He was a mud-type Awakening user, meaning his body was made out of mud, and with that, he could create and manipulate mud by his will.
He was looking for a stone that was stolen from a fraud-stone trader by Lenny.
Lenny pulls out the blue, shiny stone, with a golden chain attached to it.
Lenny: "Here it is. I don't know why they call it a stone; for me it looks like a blue amethyst—"
Again, Lenny gets interrupted by Jack, who this time quickly grabs the stone from Lenny's hand.
Jack: "Hm, what do you think, Henry?"
Jack says while further investigating the amethyst-like blue stone.
Henry: "You want to know what I'm thinking?"
Jack: "Yeah, don't hesitate."
Jack says, expecting an explanation that would explain the happened event and the mystery behind the stone.
Lenny, who is by nature a smart boy, now is highly interested in Henry's thoughts, with his expectations rising rapidly every second.
Henry: "Yeah, I have no idea."
The words land like a pebble dropped down a well—silence, then a long, disappointed echo. Lenny's shoulders sink; Jack's hopeful stare hardens.
Jack: "That stone is a problem; we should get rid of it."
He slips effortlessly into the leader's cadence.
Lenny: "To be honest, I don't think so; this stone must be of high worth since everyone gets crazy around it. We should at least hold onto it for quite some time."
Henry: "Yeah, I think so too. I mean, this smells like an adventure."
Henry responds with a big smile and shining eyes, as if a child just watched an epic episode of his favorite cartoon on the TV, while also completely missing the point of Lenny's argument.
Jack slaps his hand onto his forehead, groaning in disappointment.
Jack: "This is a stupid idea; we only get ourselves in more trouble.
Henry: "Alright, we are three people; let's vote."
Lenny and Jack glance surprised by Henry's smart suggestion, thinking that only dumb statements would come out of Henry.
Henry: "Okay then, who is for tossing away the stone? They should now raise their hands."
Jack is the only one raising his hand; his disappointment is basically written all over his face.
Jack: "Come on, guys, really? this is stupid."
Henry: "A vote is a vote."
He responds before patting Jack on his shoulder. Jack then glances at his little brother, who just gives him a shrug. Lenny and Henry grin at each other before high-fiving.
Jack sighs in disbelief.
Jack: "Alright, what's our next move then, boss?"
He says to Henry, since he lost the vote to him, basically handing the leader role to him.
Henry: "Let's visit my sister…"
Lenny gets confused. At first, Jack smiles in agreement about that suggestion but then also falls into confusion.
Jack: "And why exactly should we visit your sister? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but I'm also confused."
Henry: "Guys, my sister is smart, so she will know what we should do. She also knows a lot of people, and she is very strong."
Lenny gives a questionable expression, still doubting why they should do that. Jack quickly changes his mind, agreeing with Henry.
Jack: "Sounds good for me."
Responses in an agreeing tone.
Lenny: "Okay, I guess. Where is she right now?"
Henry: "The last time I spoke to her was a week ago; that time she was at the port city Grenzborg."
Jack: "Good, so still in Grafenberg province."
A plan takes its first breath.
Grenzborg is a port city northwest of Gravental. While Gravental is more on land, Grenzborg is completely adjoined to the Lumarian Ocean. One of the 4 major oceans.
Grenzborg is very important for the Grafenberg province since most of its imports and depots are located in Grenzborg. It is also the fish capital of the Great Empire.
Gravental Train Station…
Steam sighs from an iron engine. Announcements ring under the vaulted roof; gulls wheel overhead as if they've followed the scent of the sea inland. The three stand before the schedule board, reading the flickering plates.
Henry, Jack, and Lenny are now standing before a train schedule at the Gravental train station.
Jack: "Great, we have to wait 20 minutes."
Jack says, frustrated.
Henry: "Twenty minutes isn't that bad, right? I mean, it leaves us some time to talk."
Henry responds with enthusiasm.
Lenny: "Yeah, right. You haven't told me anything about your Awakening. What's with that blue energy that completely wrapped around your arm?"
Lenny is happy; he loves talking about supernatural things like Beasts and Awakenings, probably because he is still 13 years old.
Henry: "I wish I would know."
Lenny: "I haven't heard of an Awakening that has this kind of attribute. First I thought it was the light Awakening, but that wouldn't work since the Awakening color is yellow. Then maybe I thought it was water, but this one is already knowingly taken."
Lenny references the rules of an Awakening.
Lenny's eyes light as the train's clock ticks down. Words spill out—eager, precise.
Lenny: "Of course there are rules for it…"
Jack: "Uh-oh, here we go. Sorry, Henry."
Lenny: "The first rule is, there is only one of every Awakening type, meaning that there are not multiple users of a Water Awakening at the same time.
Second rule: if an Awakening user dies, the Awakening randomly respawns in a child who is born around the same time. There is no limit to where the child is in the world, meaning that it does not affect where the last Awakening user had died.
Third rule: an Awakening slumbers in a person until he "awakes" it; the criteria are not really known, but the most well-known and dangerously known criterion is awaking it by combat."
Henry: "Does he always talk a lot?"
Jack: "It can get worse, to be honest; wait, let me demonstrate for you."
He says, before chuckling.
Jack: "You know, Lenny, as a kid I always wanted to have a cool Awakening, but since I have a Beast, I can't have one."
Jack says.
Jack: "Don't get me wrong, I think having a Beast is way cooler."
Jack smiles at Henry and raises his thumb up, knowing what is about to happen.
Lenny: "For sure, but the most boring is having a basic Soul-Aura."
A whistle blows down the platform; the crowd shifts. Lenny leans in, professorial and proud.
Lenny here references the three major sources of strength.
Lenny: "To know what it is, it is important to know basically its fuel: soul-energy.
It is basically the energy won by the soul. If your soul energy is empty, you die.
Soul-aura is soul-energy, turned into useful strength in the form of aura, that can boost
Your strength, speed, and agility even let you use cool techniques.
Awakenings basically is another form of soul energy. An Awakening basically replaces soul energy, leading to only being able to use the Awakening's element but with full control and nearly no boundaries.
But you can't have full control of an Awakening instantly, needing training and hard work for a long period of time to fully get a hang of it.
Beasts are magical creatures, feeding on the very Soul-energy; naturally you die, but a Beast basically, similar to an Awakening, exchanges your Soul-energy with its own, leading to the user being able to use the Beast's ability and gaining a high healing factor."
Henry: "Hey, our train is here."
He responds quickly to interrupt Lenny.
With a hiss and a clatter, the train rolls in. Wind tugs their clothes; sunlight flashes across the blue "stone" in Jack's palm. For a heartbeat, it seems to glow—like the sea catching fire at dawn.
They step toward the doors. Somewhere behind them, far beyond the station noise, rubble settles in a broken alley—and a single wet sound echoes from a forgotten grate.