Chapter 3: Where It Began

Jack fades in and out of consciousness as the knights carry him and Ridley through Radiata towards the castle. He sees quick flashes of people in the street watching, the front of Theater Vancoor, Ridley hanging over a knight's shoulder, and then he blacks out until they are in the castle. When he comes to, he is alone in a cell of the castle. He hears people muttering outside his cell with hurried footsteps echoing through the hall. Walking up to the door of the cell he starts to bang on it.

"Hey! This wasn't part of the deal! Let me out of this thing and take me to Larks!" Jack bangs on the cell more and more furiously until Patrick, a watchmen in the jail, comes to quiet him down.

"Pipe down kid; you aren't seeing anybody hollering like that…and that's Lord Larks to you!" Patrick continues his walk through the halls making sure everything else is in order. Jack is about to say something else when he hears Ridley talking in the cell next to him.

"Yes Jack, just shut up for now. Throwing a fit in here isn't going to help anybody. Just remain patient until Lord Larks summons us." Ridley had come to before Jack, and had already tried talking to the watchmen to no avail. She knew it was pointless so the only thing that could be done now is to be patient. All of a sudden a large crashing sound could be heard from coming towards the front of the dungeon. People were shouting and over them you can hear someone calling out.

"Ridley, where is my Ridley! What have you done to her?!" It was Lord Jasne, Ridley's father, trying to push his way through the knights to see his daughter, who he hadn't seen or heard from since she left the castle. They finally get him restrained as Patrick comes running up.

"What the heck is going on here? Why isn't Lord Jasne in his room under house arrest as ordered by Lord Larks?"

Knight in charge responds, "Sir, when Lord Jasne heard that Lady Ridley was in the castle, he someone how managed to get passed the knights guarding his room and made it all the way down here." Lord Jasne squirms on the floor as multiple knights hold him down.

"Let me go this instant! Don't you know who I am? I want to see my daughter immediately!" Jasne continued to squirm as the guards threw him into a cell across from Ridley.

"There you go sir" replied Patrick, "now you get to see her as much as you want." All the guards went back to their stations as Patrick continued to make his rounds. Jasne quickly went towards the door of the cell and started calling out to Ridley.

"Are you there Ridley? Please answer me if you are there." Jasne continued trying to speak out to Ridley, but Ridley was too ashamed to speak. It was her fault that her father was in this predicament in the first place and she felt she had no right to speak to him now. "Please Ridley; at least speak one word so I know that you are okay and unharmed!"

As Jasne continued yelling from across the hall, Jack spoke to Ridley, who had been dead silent as soon as her father came barging through. "You know he's not going to stop until you speak to him right? Why don't you say something to him?" Ridley still remained quiet for a few minutes until she finally responded.

"It's my fault he has gone through so much trouble already. Nothing I say will justify what my actions have done to him. I don't deserve to call myself his daughter."

"You think that matters?" Jack responded, "He's your father Ridley, and no matter what you do that will never change. I know if I never went after you that day, I would have been driving myself crazy worrying about you. I'm sure your father has been going through that exact same thing." Ridley thought about this for a second with a tear in her eyes. She shook it off and stood up and walked to the door. Jasne was still yelling out for her to respond, crying madly as if his daughter had been dead for years.

"Ridley, please say something! Why won't you talk to me? I know you are there!" He continued blubbering until Ridley finally spoke.

"Hello…father…" At the sound of Ridley's voice, Jasne started to cry even harder.

"Ridley my beautiful daughter, are you alright?!" Jasne cried, "I was so worried when you left the castle! I didn't know what happened, and then I heard you were with the fairy creatures and I knew it had to be some kind of mistake! But you escaped from those evil creatures and you have finally returned to me my precious daughter!" Jasne continued to sob uncontrollably for a few minutes until Ridley finally decided to respond to him.

"No dad it was true what they said." She said sternly, "I went to the Light Elves of my own free will and joined their side. I wasn't fighting for their cause, but according to the rules of Radiata, I am a traitor to the kingdom." As she said this, Jasne stopped crying and was now in utter shock.

"But…why would you do such a thing Ridley?!" Jasne responded shakily. He couldn't comprehend what Ridley had told him and wanted answers. "You had everything you could ever want here in Radiata! You were a captain of your own brigade! All the finest knights, armor and weapons at your disposal! A father who loved you, and would do anything for you! Why throw all of that away to go on the side of the fairy creatures who tried to wipe us out?!"

Ridley raised her voice in anger, "And who attacked who first dad?! Because they certainly didn't! Lord Nogueira, a light elf, saved my life, and the result was his death! Instead of thanking them for their kind act for me, a human who they didn't trust and didn't know, what did we do? We sent knights to the dwarves' city, and took over them because we had too much damn pride to give into their price increases?" Jasne stared in shock over his daughters' outburst. Ridley exhaled, which calmed her down a bit as she went on. "Something was going on inside of me ever since the transpiritation ritual was performed on me, and I knew the only way I would receive answers was if I were to go with them, and I did. I don't expect you to understand, and I am truly sorry that I put you threw so much pain, but don't talk about the fairy creatures as if they were the only evil ones when we committed plenty of sins on our side as well." Jack was just listening to everything Ridley said and was in just as much shock as Jasne was in his cell across the hall. Not shock from what Ridley had said, but the way she said it. He never realized how deeply Ridley felt about everything. Jasne just stared into his daughters eyes across the hall. Her eyes showed confidence and experience, even behind bars. She wasn't his little girl anymore no matter how bad he wanted her to be.

"So is there anything else that needs to be said, or is that the whole story?" The three prisoners' eyes shot towards the end of the hall towards the voice as someone slowly came forward. The slow footsteps made an echo through the hall as the person slowly came into view. It was Lord Larks. "I certainly hope there is more to your story than just that. I have so many questions for the both of you." He looks to Patrick, and tells him to release Jack and Ridley, and starts to make his way back to his room. "Have the two of them escorted to my room shortly."

"But sir, are you sure it is safe? Why not just question them here?" Patrick pleaded with Larks. "They are both highly skilled warriors sir, and I don't think it is wise to release them from the cells."

Larks stops, but does not turn around to face Patrick. "I have a feeling if they wished us any harm they wouldn't have given up so easily. I have zero doubt in my mind they will give us any trouble." He continues to walk but then stops again, "And one more thing, return Lord Jasne to his chambers. If he acts up again though, do not hesitate to bring him back down here. Is that understood?"

"Yes Lord Larks!" All knights respond including Patrick. Larks exits, and shortly after two knights release Jasne and escort him directly to his room. Jasne doesn't even glance at Ridley as he walks past and Ridley feels she has said too much.

"He probably hates me now…" Ridley says to Jack in a sad voice. "I wouldn't blame him if he did."

"No way Ridley, he would never hate you in a million years! You said what needed to be said. He is just in shock right now. Besides, like I said before, he's your father, and he will never stop loving you." Jack said this with confidence, and even though Ridley couldn't see him, she could imagine his goofy smile, and that was enough to make her feel better.

"Thanks Jack…I needed to hear that…" She smiled as a single tear dropped to the floor, immediately replaced by a smile on her face.

"Alright you two love birds that's enough." Patrick said as he unlocked their cells. "Enough with the chit chat for now, you can talk all you want to Lord Larks." He pointed to the knights standing behind him, "the knights here are going to escort you to Lord Lark's chambers, and if you cause them any trouble, or give them any reason to make them feel you are up to no good, they are ordered to take you down by any means necessary understood?" Patrick had a serious look on his face as he spoke these words. Jack and Ridley just nodded, as the knights, two behind and two in front, escorted them to Lark's room.

It was a quiet walk up to the fourth floor from the dungeon. Jack and Ridley didn't want to excite the knights or make them suspicious in any way so they kept their mouths shout and eyes forward, not even looking at each other. When they finally arrived, one of the knights knocked on the door, announcing their coming to Larks. He told them to let the two in and to go back to their normal duties.

"Please sit down" Larks told them as he pointed at the two seats in front of his desk. The two of them sat down nervously as Larks sat their calmly, leaning on his elbows on the desk with his hands folded over his mouth. His eyes were closed and for several minutes he remained silent as if in deep thought as Jack and Ridley stared at him curiously. A few more minutes passed in awkward silence until he finally opened his eyes and looked at the two in front of him. "Now, please tell me everything, starting from when the two of you left Radiata, all the way till you returned this morning." Jack and Ridley looked at each other briefly, and then Ridley began to speak. She mentioned what was happening to her the days before she had left the castle, with the blacking out and speaking in a foreign tongue that turned out to be ancient elf. Jack talked about how the light elves had taken Ridley hostage which explained why he needed to take over Fort Helencia. They told Larks everything, from finding Gawain with the black goblins, to Lord Lucian being the Silver Dragon and killing Cross, and Ridley being the vessel for the Gold Dragon. He didn't say a word as the two told their story, and after a few hours when they were all done, he closed his eyes again. After awhile he took out a large, old looking book and passed it over to Ridley. "Please have a look at this. We found it in Lord Lucian's room after he left."

Ridley picked up the heavy book and placed it in her lap. She got a strange feeling from it and for a second was caught in a daze. She shook it off and opened the book. Inside were large strange characters that looked odd. Jack looked over at the book then to Larks. "What kind of language is this book in? I've never seen anything like it in my life."

"We aren't sure" Larks responded with his eyes still closed shut, "But after hearing your stories, I believe it might be this fabled ancient elf language Ridley was talking about. I'm hoping that if she could speak the language, then maybe her knowledge gained from the Gold Dragon would help her read the language as well."

"I don't think it works that way sir" Jack said, "Lucian told us the Gold Dragon was gone after I stopped Ridley from being taken over by it."

"I can read it…" Ridley said, staring at the book with great intense as she flipped through the old pages slowly. "It's talking about an ancient prophecy, older even than the prophecy of the Gold and Silver dragons…"

"What does it say?" Larks asked finally opening his eyes, staring at Ridley with great interest.

Jack still didn't understand what was going on. "Hey Ridley, what do you mean you could read it? Does that meant the Gold Dragon is not gone and you are still in danger?!" He looked at her worriedly, but she reassured him that wasn't the case.

"It's true that the Gold Dragon is still within my soul" Ridley told Jack as she continued to read the book. "But it is not the same as before. I can feel that it is not trying to take over my body, more like it is merging with me. It gives me knowledge of things I shouldn't know, for example being able to read this book." The room is quiet as Ridley continues to read the book. Jack and Larks stare at her patiently as she flips through the pages.

A few more hours pass by. Jack was wandering around the small room growing more impatient. Larks got up one time to get his eye glass cloth from a nearby shelf and went back to his spot. Ridley hardly moved at all, except to shift he leg position a few times. When she was finished with the book she placed it back on the desk and exhaled.

"Well what did it say?" Jack asked impatiently, waiting for Ridley to speak. Ridley opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Jacks growling stomach. "Sorry" he said embarrassedly, "Haven't eaten anything since this morning." Larks looked at the two of them and then spoke.

"I apologize; I didn't realize how late it had gotten. Please go down to the lunch area and have a bite to eat. When you have eaten your fill then please return to tell me your findings in the book." He escorted them out of the room which had a few guards waiting on the other side.

"Is this still necessary Lord Larks?" Jack asked kind of annoyed.

"Even though I believe the two of you to be innocent after hearing your story, the rest of neither Radiata, nor any other person in this castle has heard it so this is for now until we can clean things up officially." To the guards, "Please escort Jack and Ridley to the lunch area and make sure they have plenty to eat. When they are finished please return them here." The knights responded with a "yes Lord Larks" and with that being said, he closed the door and the knights took Jack and Ridley.

Down in the lunch area, many knights were eating supper and as soon as Jack and Ridley entered, all eyes were on them.

"Hurry up and eat" a knight told the two of them rudely, "don't keep Lord Larks waiting." They sat them down and put food in front of them, which was a bowl of cold soup, a bread roll, and some water. The two of them looked down at the food with displeasure, but beggars can't be choosers.

"So what did the book say Ridley?" Jack asked Ridley in a whisper. All the other people in the lunch room were focused on them which made Jack feel uneasy.

"There is no point in hearing the story twice. Just wait for me to tell it in front of Larks, you will know soon enough." Ridley continued to eat her food.

Jack chuckled to himself, he was happy to see Ridley acting like herself again. He was getting use to her acting nice and loving to him, but was happy to see she hadn't changed too much.

After an awkward lunch, the two were escorted back to Lord Larks who wasn't showing it, but was waiting eagerly in his room to hear the full story.

"I hope you two had an enjoyable meal." Larks said politely.

"Well…define enjoyable" Jack said jokingly which didn't save him from Ridley elbowing him in his ribs.

"Was there any problems?" Larks asked with a concerned look.

"No Lord Larks, I'm ready to begin" Ridley said as she and Jack sat back into the chairs.

"Good, begin when you are ready." Larks said this calmly enough, but the look on his face showed otherwise.

"Okay" Ridley looked at Jack who nodded at her, putting his hand on hers and squeezing it for comfort and strength. He thought it odd he did so without thinking and when he was about to pull his hand back, she put her other hand on top of his and held it tightly. "To put in bluntly, this is a story about how the world, and everything we know, began."