Jackson woke up. His vision was blurry, but he soon came to be. He was in his bedroom, laying down in his bed, in his bedsheets. Jackson had his nightstand to his right of the bed, which on the top of it was a picture of Jackson and his mother, Ruby Chronicle. Her and Jackson's smiles were from ear to ear, Ruby holding what looked like vodka in her hand while having her arm hooked around Jackson, and she looked like she was laughing. Ruby's red hair was down to her shoulders, but it was somehow placed on top of Jackson's head, which he was smiling in the picture, but he was trying to rid himself of the redhead's hair on his head. The other object that was on the nightstand was a lamp, that for some odd reason was turned on, so it lit up Jackson's room. The lamp had a clock on it, which read 12:30AM.
"U…ugh…" Jackson groggily muttered while sitting up. He looked over to his nightstand at his right. "12:30AM? Why am I up this early?" Jackson questioned himself. He felt tired, but he also felt anger rising up in him. Normally, he would just go back to sleep, but this feeling of anger got him fully awake. "Well, might as well get some water." Jackson grumbled to himself as he got out his bed in his pajamas. He was wearing a black long pajama shirt with blue work-out pants. His room had one window, and that was to the left of his bed. Jackson almost reached the door, which was in-front of his bed, but, he saw a flicker of red through his window.
"What the heck?" Jackson thought aloud. "What was that?" He questioned, internally wanting to identify the strange red flash. It was pitch black through his window, he couldn't see anything. Then something red, but had a blue tip came flying towards his window. It was getting closer and closer, until
Jackson somehow figured out it wasn't going to stop. He ducked below his window, and the red/blue object crashed through his window, and landed on his bed. His bed was set aflame. Jackson didn't think, he just ran towards his door, and the second he touched the doorknob, the door flung open, pushing Jackson to the ground.
"Milord, I am so sorry!" The voice quickly apologized. Jackson looked up, and saw someone he knew for his lifetime. She had long blue hair that went down to the back of her neck, and a normal black maid outfit on. A black dress that split at the pelvic region into two different small, but elegant tails. She was also wearing blue pantyhose as well. The girl bowed in an apologetic way. "M-Melody!?" Why are you awake!?" Jackson stuttered to the maid, Melody. "Oh, right," She began, "the house is under attack by a section of the Crimean army, your mother, Ruby Chronicle, wants you to flee to the middle of Iadun and inform the kingdom that we're under attack!" Melody stated matter-of-factly. Jackson's blood froze. The Crimean army, as pacifist as it is, was one of the Nation Dendral's strongest armies. Jackson was at a fork in the path, an exit off the road. Flee now, and try to convince Iadun that Crimea was attacking, or fight and most likely die defending his home. The decision was already made in Jackson's mind.
"Hold on," Jackson began, "you're telling me, that my mother wants me to run away? Do you honestly think I would perform such a cowardly act!?" Jackson exclaimed, as if he were offended. Melody was taken back by this. She looked shocked and sad, but had a mixture of anger thrown in there as well. "This is an order from your mother, Jackson, you must obey it!" Melody nearly shouted at Jackson. "Hey! There are two people upstairs! I'll get them!" A masculine voice shouted. There was a flicker of light, most likely coming from a torch, and thumps as the soldier was running up the stairs. "Oh, now lok what you did, Milord!" Melody said irritatingly. She slammed the door shut and moved to the right of the door, and took out a dagger from out of her sleeve. "W-what the..?" Jackson said, "You hide weapons under your dress!?" Jackson whispered somewhat weirded out to Melody. She looked him in the eye and put her finger to her mouth signaling to stay quiet. She then held the dagger in her right hand, leaned against the wall, and waited for the man to break down the door. Jackson ran to the right side next to Melody, and quietly hoped she knew what she was doing.
The thumps continued until they reached just outside the door. Surprisingly, there was no "epic kick to break down the door and kill everyone" moment, but three small knocks. "Yo! I can tell you is in der!" A male said. Melody had a face of pure disappointment and shock from the voice and the accent. "I don't get paid enough for this…" Melody muttered under her breath. "Melody, you don't get paid at all. You live and eat here." Jackson whispered to her. Jackson then backed away because he swore that if he said one more word he'd definitely be the one who Melody would kill. "Yoyo! Make dis esa for meee! I needz da moneee!" the man shouted through the door. Melody didn't know how much more disappointment she could take. She had to deal with Jackson, and now this voice, and the fact that she had no sleep before this happened, she would snap if anyone moved a muscle. "ALRIGHT, NO MORE SHIT!" The voice then changed, and kicked down the door like a badass.
The man was wearing a long sleeve red shirt and red long pants, and he was equipped with a normal iron sword in his right hand. He was wearing a grey breastplate and barely enough armor to cover his arms and legs, but not his neck. "FINALLY!" Melody thought in her head, happy that SOMETHING was going to die. She ran over to him at a fast pace, barely enough time for the man to look over to her direction, and she slit his throat with the dagger. His blood decorated the blade, and splattered on Melody's face and her clothing. The man doubled over and Melody then hooked her arm around the man, and stabbed the back of his head with her dagger. Blood was basically all over Melody, and somewhat on Jackson because he was siting close to the fight scene.
"…How did… Melody, how long have you been able to do this!?" Jackson questioned Melody, scared and a tad freaked out by the fact his MAID was able to slaughter someone in less than 10 seconds. Melody striped the man of his armor and blade, and tossed those objects next to Jackson. "You're going to need these if you're going to try to save your mother." Melody simply stated. "W-well, at least I'm somewhat trained how to use a sword?" Jackson said. He began to ponder if this was even a good choice, he knew he would try to save his mother, but what if he died in the process? "Oh well," he thought, "I've made my choice!"
Jackson put on the armor, but the breastplate was the only thing that could fit him. It was only able to cover his entire chest, back, and pelvic region, but he ultimately looked stupid, and he couldn't move. "Know what, this is a bad idea." Melody admitted to Jackson. "Here, just use the sword he had." She ordered Jackson, who was not used to his maid telling him what to do. However, he simply obeyed and hoped this night would end soon. "You know, your mother made you a small set of armor, but it's in her room's closet." Melody stated. "I-in the closet?" Jackson asked, obviously confused and wondering why his mother put it in the closet. Or why she made him armor in general.
"Let's go Melody, I need to save my mother!" Jackson told Melody sternly. "You know," She began, "this seems a little cliché" she finished. "Touché" Jackson admitted. As he and Melody exited his bedroom. The hallway extended to a room directly in front of Jackson's, which was Melody's own room, and to the left of Jackson's doorframe, there were the stairs leading downstairs. Downstairs, the pair could see flickering lights, and lots of men laughing. "Ha haa! We got not only the Iadite King's little slave, but we got her house seized as well!" A male shouted in victory, followed by a few quotes the other males said such as "We're gonna be rich turning her into the Crimean King!", "Boy's pack your bags! We are going to go back to Crimea and sell her to the king!" and "Crimea will rule this earth!"
That last line felt odd coming from a Crimean. They never wanted to rule any more than they already had, heck, even the king of Crimea, King Leviticus, often joked about how he "barely could keep up with his own kingdom, why invade and rule another?"
"This is not good…" Jackson thought. "Crimea will annihilate us when if we even THINK of going to war against them... What to do…"
