He always knew natural disasters are a part of life.
But this totally take the cake. A large earthquake split a mountain in half, the water from the river flood the entire valley, most of the trees were broken in half, constant rains on one city and drought on the other. The citizens are complaining about flood that ruin their crops, or wild animals running into towns, taking shelters from said flood. This has been continuing for a while now, about a year after the monstrosity known as the Wither Storm had ended in the Order of the Stone's victory.
His home, Beacon Town was also affected. Trades was stopped because of boulders stopping the trading caravans from the northern region, and he can't import the goods from his town to other place as well. Crops were destroyed because of aforementioned disaster. It is constantly raining, so much that it's actually starting to build up, since the sewer can't get the water out in time. A letter from Olivia confirmed that Redstonia hasn't rain for months. Jesse, being the mayor of Beacon town, was sent to investigate the cause.
"J-Jesse, this is horrible!" The brunette glanced over his shoulder, where his newest assistant is looking at everything with wide eyes.
The boy has tan skin, with coal pupil, black hair and wore blue jeans, a green and white jacket along with a blue tie and black glasses. Radar was originally from somewhere called 'Champion City'. Apparently, he hates his boss, so he quits his job. Jesse would have to watch the boy for a while, since he couldn't trust him yet.
After all, he didn't get this far by being trusting to strangers.
But then again, the boy had passed most of the tests Jesse had about his intentions and capabilities to handle Beacon Town in his absences. Truthfully, Jesse actually found his bubbly personality quite amusing.
"Indeed, this is rather...alarming. I don't think earthquakes ever get this bad, to be honest."
Ah, there is his old mentor. Gabriel had helped him through hardships and tough times. Developing and rebuilding a town is no easy joke after all. The Wither Storm didn't spare anything in it's wake. Even though they are comrades now, the brunette couldn't help but curse Ivor for his stupidity sometime. Jesse could vividly recalled the time when he was practically surrounded by paperworks and having a lot of meeting scheduled. If Gabriel hadn't intervened, 'Slayer of the Wither Storm' would be six-foot underground, and written on his tombstone would be 'Crushed to Death by Paperworks.' Really, Axel would never leave him alone if that happen.
Suppressing a chuckle of amusement, he assess the damage. This is a serious matter after all.
It has been two years since the defeat of the Wither Storm, and everything is going along its way as if the monster had never attacked in the first place, if you exclude the random bouts of disasters that has been happening, that is. Jesse took over the leadership of his home and renamed it the Beacon town, true to the colorful beacons within its wall, the reward for slaying the Wither Storm. Ellegaard and Olivia went back to Redstonia to pursue their career, as Olivia was promised an apprenticeship to Ellegaard. Axel, wanting to succeed Magnus's legacy, went to Boomtown to try and gain the citizen's respect, then be a leader in honor of Magnus. Lukas, after finishing his book about the New Order, travels around the world as a journalist, while also acting as Beacon town's information network. In fact, it was him who had informed Jesse about the natural disasters happening. Petra is currently working at the mine, very enthusiastic as they'd hit a spot where there are quite a bit of goods needs to be mined. She is content as far as he knew.
Harper and Ivor pretty much disappeared right after. No letters, no nothing. Biting back a sigh, Jesse shakes his head. Only if he had been more careful, then the potion master wouldn't stole the Atlas right under their nose. The only constant in his life is Gabriel now. The people from the Murder Mansion and The Games had come too. Stampy and Stacy are making themselves at home with their new puppy, Wink. Emily had been a tremendous help, something which Jesse is eternally grateful for, with her crops and fresh vegetables are the most loved in the town. Reuben, the usher of course, became a mailman that deliver mails across Beacon town. Lately, Emily had hired him to deliver bottles of fresh milk to the neighborhood every morning. Needless to say, everyone was delighted to have access to fresh milk, to go with some crunchy, crispy apple turnovers and ice cream in the morning. Yum!
Jesse is snap out of his musings as Gabriel groaned loudly into the palm of his hand, and smacking his forehead.
"I might have some ideas as to what our problem really is." Gabriel grimly informed him, peaking the brunette's interest. They had walked back to town after noting the damage done to a clearing near Beacon town. It was a half an hour walk, so they was able to discuss some strategies for the upcoming disasters. It is getting worse everyday. Who knows, maybe before we even blink, another Wither Storm will come and rip the whole world apart, yet again.
"And it is?" Jesse arched an eyebrow. For his mentor to be reacting this way, the reasons must be borderline stupid, or maybe even something obvious that they should know already.
Gabriel sigh, suddenly feeling twice his age. If his suspicions is true, then it is very unfortunate. "You see, Ivor is a scientist through and through, but there was a time when he was interested in...miscellaneous stuffs. Mostly ghosts or heavenly being. I remembered him rambling about 'reincarnations' and 'headless ghosts' back in the days." Gabriel stop to snort; seems like he is remembering times, when they were a well-functioning team. "So he came across an old book, that wrote something about this. Apparently there is a pillar of some sort that held a powerful gem; a Zircon, to be precise."
"Zircon? Never heard of that."
Gabriel shrugged. "Welcome abroad. Anyway, it has an ocean blue color and shaped like a hexagon, if I remembered correctly. It is really bright and half-transparent. The pillar and the stone is stuck together for stability. If the stone is removed, then well...you know." The warrior made a hand gesture around him. Jesse internally winced.
"So the stone, somehow, had been removed if your theory is correct."
"This is where I cursed Ivor for his stupidity! The fool actually had the gall to remove and take the pillar home with him!" Jesse nearly fell off the ruby armchair and Radar gaped. The latter is bringing some beverage into Jesse's personal library for his two boss as requested, and nearly drop the two mugs in shock. Gabriel throw his hands up in exasperation, "I know! He said, and I quote: 'For Science, I would even sell my soul for the devil!'. But years had passed, and nothing happened. I even made sure of it. The pillar's fine, everything is fine. Nothing disastrous as it is now. But unfortunately, I am not an expert, nor a scientist."
Jesse sipped his tea and place the mug on to his desk. The lad can already feel a headache coming. "What about Soren? Wouldn't he know of this?"
"Actually, no one but me and Ivor have the knowledge of the Zircon stone in the Order." Gabriel rub his temple in irritation. "Apparently, Ivor and Soren was having some kind of competition as to who have the best research then. Ivor was starting to drift apart from everyone else, because of the," The warrior wave his hands in the air absently, and Jesse immediately understand. "...incident. Soren's research is about the Command Block, but after what happened, it is unspoken that Ivor won by default."
"The pillar and his research notes is in that base at the Far Land. We probably have to go and check if the stone is gone, or the pillar is broken."
"That is sound logic. We shall leave at the end of the week. And Radar?" Jesse turned around to face his companion. Radar squeaked. "I trust you to handle Beacon town for me while we're gone. Can you do that?"
"O-of c-course, Jesse! I-It's no problem! Ha-ha!" Radar scratch the back of his head, trying not to appear nervous but failed miserably. He'd been an assistant for only two months, and Jesse is trusting him to handle things. He will not fail!
"You sure there?" Gabriel ask, voice filled with skepticism.
Radar look offended. "Of course, sir. I shall perform to the best of my ability. Beacon town will not have so much as a scratch with my super vision." He push his glasses up and run out of the room, leaving Jesse and Gabriel behind. The two chuckle at the boy's antics, before turning serious once more.
"You already know how dangerous the Far Land can be. Back up plans?"
Jesse simply smirked. "Way ahead of you there. I bet Petra will be ecstatic for a break from mining."
"A vacation from the dirty, suffocating mine to sorting out a bunch of books. Why Jesse, this is the best vacation ever! One that I've never hoped to have!" Petra's voice is dripping with sarcasm, as she chuck a book at the mentioned boy's head.
After sending an invitation to Petra in the guise of 'picnic at the Far Land', they headed out at the end of that week on horses at top speed. The traveling had been incredibly taxing, as note from Gabriel's grumblings. But they eventually reaches the swamp, where Petra screamed she'd had enough and promptly took a break. Dinner was potatoes and beef stew, since that were the only ingredients available around them.
The Swamps consists of several sand and grass islands with a lot of oak trees growing on them. They are covered in vines, and the oak trees almost look like spruce tree because they have much darker leaves. As they were finishing dinner, they decided to make camp for the night. Gabriel went to scout the area, while Petra set some traps for wild animals. For some reason, there are a lot of chickens here, even more than sheep or pigs. Slimes are also spotted at night, so extra measures have to be taken.
In the morning after breakfast, several witches decided to attack. Jesse was prepared this time, and most importantly, was full instead of on the edge of starvation like last time. He drew his enchanted diamond sword, and his two companions drew their respective weapons. Gabriel had laughed at the nostalgic situation when the skeletons made their appearance, leaving a confused Petra; as she weren't here last time.
Eventually, they left the biome, and went to the edge of the world. Petra was amazed by the floating islands and waterfall. And now that Jesse noticed it, underneath the waterfall lead to the Void. He involuntarily shuddered. Good thing he'd noticed it before charging in this time. Looking cool is useless if you are dead after all.
The maze were still the same as ever, with ruined walls and various mobs hanging around the place. The trio decided to do it the same old way; climbing the vine and hop across the walls. Luckily, the piston machine, whatever its official name is, is still good since Olivia'd fixed it, so they were able to get to Ivor's cottage quickly, and of course trolling the zombies just for the fun of it.
Gabriel informed them that Ivor left his research notes about the Zircon pillar somewhere around the sea of books that is Ivor's library. So that leads to the scene before us now; Jesse is sitting on top of a mountain of notebooks, checking what is possibly the 200th one of the day. Gabriel is lounging around, sorting the book that could be the one, as he is the only one out of them all had witnessed the notebook when Ivor made it. He claimed that Ivor stuck the notes in a single amber notebook when the latter reached the dead end of his study, then threw it somewhere, only to be forgotten until now. Petra is having ideas about burning down the entire place and pray to all the God out there that the pillar isn't flammable.
Jesse effortlessly catch the book with one hand. "Now, now. Patient is a virtue, Petra. And thank you for the compliment."
She ungracefully snort and went back to work. The brunette put the book down after the final examination, and wander around the room. All the books on the shelves, so far, have proven to be useless. The information was mostly for Ivor's other research, but not the research notes itself. They are heading nowhere with the speed that they are doing, and this really frustrate him, in contrast to his calm demeanor outside. He snap out of his internal conflicts as he heard Gabriel's yell:
"Finally! Something relevant!"
Jesse and Petra immediately went to the warrior, who is waving a piece of paper around enthusiastically. "Ivor wrote all of his experiments that was done in this cottage here. Apparently, he had hidden the amber notebook behind the painting! He also drew the location of the pillar, too!"
Petra quickly grabbed the piece of paper and read, confirming what Gabriel just said. But as Jesse look around, no painting are in sight.
"You sure? There is no painting here." The brunette cross his arm over his chest.
Petra jerk her head to the side. "There was one, actually. A broken painting on top of the bed. It has a dirt block in the wall instead of a wood block. Ivor must've been too lazy to go and grab some wood."
Jesse raised an eyebrow, but walk to the bed nonetheless. Indeed, there is a painting on the floor and a dirt block on the wall. He punch the dirt block out of the way. There is a picture frame with...nothing?
"Someone'd already taken the notebook!" He exclaim, a little louder than necessary.
That got the two's attention, as they immediately run to the bed. They inspect the hole, checking for traps and illusions, but found none. The notebook simply isn't there.
"Maybe he changed the location? We wouldn't know..." Petra glance at Gabriel and mutter.
After a while, the trio decided that the best course of action is to visit the pillar first. They found themselves inside a cave that have a lot of azure crystals stuck out from the rocks, illuminating the dark cave. A colony of bats flew out of the cave almost immediately as they stepped in, scaring the three half to death. The cave itself isn't very deep, and is well hidden behind a waterfall. After a fifteen minutes walk, they found a giant room with soft blue light radiated from the middle.
A gigantic pillar is standing in the very middle, on the complex aqua tiles and gemstones decorating it. There is huge glass pane that cover the four wall, transparent to the sea outside. Petra let out a small sound of wonder, while Gabriel simply gape. There are small fishes swimming around the deep ocean. A knock to the glass dome told the brunette that this will never be destroy by larger marine animals. The room is simply a piece of art.
"Amazing...Lukas would kill to write about this." Petra was shocked. And amazed. Ivor is crude, and dare she say it, stupid. But creating a chamber like this requires a great imagination and lots of thought put into it. For all the bad blood she had with the man, she can grudgingly admit that he is someone worth looking up to.
"Hold up! Look at the middle of the pillar, you two!" Gabriel suddenly exclaimed.
They both turn their attention to the main character of this chamber. There, under the soft blue light it radiated, a hexagon-shaped hole was imbedded on the crystal structure, in all it's glory. But the Zircon stone is no where to be found.
The room starts shaking violently.