"I need your help, please" Her voice sounded Shakey as she talked
"Don't worry, I'm coming, I'm on my way." The sounds of Jim falling around as he put on his clothes and rushed out of the room could be heard over the phone. "Where are you now?"
"I don't know, I think I'm in the forest"
Jim quickly put his phone on speaker as he hopped on his bike, "Sent me your phone's location, I'm coming now"
Claire managed to send her location as she sat next to a tree and she tried to think of the last thing she remembered before she got here but nothing came to mind
"I got your location I'm not far now"
"How are you so close already?" Claire asked because she could see his location as well and a minute ago he was still very far away, but when she looked at the phone again, she could not believe her eyes. Her phone might be glitching because Jim was way too fast for a normal boy.
Just then Claire could hear some tire marks skidding as Jim came to a stop close by, "Claire! Claire, where are you?!"
Claire immediately ran into Jim's arms as she saw him, "thank you for finding me" she cried on his shoulder as he comforted her
As a few minutes went by and Claire calmed down, they started to walk home. Jim gave Claire his shoes to wear as she only had her PJs on.
"I'm ok, what about you?"
"Don't worry, I've been told my skin is quite tough, so the road won't hurt my feet. You wear them"
"Really?"
"Yes I'm sure"
Jim pushed his bike, which got a flat tire, and he stopped when he came to Claire.
"You came very fast"
"I had a lot of adrenaline in my system when I heard you cry, so I pushed my speed." Jim chuckled, but Claire was even more confused because even with adrenaline, no person could go that fast.
"So how did you get all the way out here?"
"I... I don't remember. I was sleeping in my bed, and suddenly I turned on my side, and I felt the ground. Luckily I had my phone still in my hand when I fell asleep"
"But it's still weird how you got here"
"I must have teleported" Claire tried to joke to lighten the mood, but Jim was shocked.
Claire saw Jim shocked. "What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing, I just had a weird thought there for a second"
"Like what? That I did telephone using magic?" Claire laughed and Jim chuckled a little
"Yeah that can be real"
"Anyway, thank you again"
"No problem"
"You were the first person I thought of calling when I found myself there" Claire blushed a bit as she looked down
"Rea... Really?" Jim was more red than a tomato
"Yeah, I feel safe around you. Thanks"
"Anytime" Jim looked away to hide his blushing face
"Anyway, we are getting close to my house; I'll just jump in through the window. I usually leave it open..."
Claire looked at Jim with a small smile. She had calmed down all the way, and she even felt happy now for some reason. She removed his shoes and handed them to him; as he took them, she quickly leaned in and placed a quick peck on his cheek. Claire quickly ran to the side of the house, and before she started her climb to the window, she looked back at Jim, who was still holding his cheek and smiling like a love-sick teen. She waved at him and started to climb as Jim watched her disappear into her window.
Jim put on his shoes and started his happy walk home.
The alarm buzzed as Jim hit the snooze and dragged himself out of bed. He had a favorable morning, but it cost him a few hours of much-needed sleep. He lazily got himself ready for school and had to walk as his bike's wheel was not fixed yet.
"Hey Jimbo" Toby came to a stop next to Jim on his bike
"Hey Tobes"
"Where's your bike?"
"It has a flat so I'm walking"
" That's bad, how'd it happen"
"Nothing just rode it too fast on a bad road"
" I see, but we can fix it later today, but after we go celebrate"
"Celebrate?"
"How'd you forget? It's your 16th birthday today man"
"Really, I didn't realize." Jim had been so busy he forgot to even notice which days it was.
"So does that also mean you have no plans for today?"
"Kind of, why?"
"Great, then let's meet at Trollmarket after your rehearsals, ok?"
"Ok I will see you there"
The two boys continued to walk to school talking about their usual talks and the adventures of Toby when Jim was not there.
As they came to school they found the atmosphere to be lively. It was a because of all the girls were surrounding a man handing out pamphlets.
"Don't forget ladies, it'll be a night to remember" the voice sounded oddly familiar to Jim, so he approached to go look, it was Douxie.
For a second Douxie stared directly at Jim, or it looked like he did. Then Jim realized he was actually looking at toby that was next to him, and also Claire who was approaching from behind.
"Hey Jim" she cheerfully greeted "hey, toby was it? Sorry we didn't talk much before right?"
"Hey Claire" Jim greeted but as he glanced from his side view he could see Douxie giving a more suspicious look now directly at him
"Hey Claire, yeah I'm Toby. Jim's best friend. Yeah we don't talk much but I know you and Jim have had a lot of time to... Get to know each other" Toby gave a smirk
"Tobes!" Jim tried to smile apologetically at Claire
"It's ok he's not the first to tease me like that"
"Oh really, sorry"
"No it's fine I don't mind" she gave Jim a look that made toby feel like a third wheel
"Well there's the bell, it'll see you in history Jimbo" toby escaped and quickly took his route to class
"Sorry about this morning again"
"No problem, I'll always be there if you need me" Jim and Claire stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds
"Hey there mates, sorry for interrupting" Douxie came from the side and leaned a bit into their spaces
"Uhhh hi" Claire gave a small smile
"Hello, Mr? Are you from this school?" Jim asked
"No not actually. Me and my band are just here to advertise our band and I thought you two love birds might want to have a date at our upcoming concert?"
"Love birds? Us... Well not... We are not... Well not yet..." Claire rambled a bit before she looked at Jim who was about to start laughing
"It's ok, we can make time for your concert, Mr..."
"You can call me Douxie" Douxie reached out his hand to give Jim a hand shake
'My king, I sense that the sorcerer has a spell prepared in his hand. It is not dangerous but it will cause him to figure out you are not normal'
'What do you recommend them Alx?'
' I recommend you change the topic and he will retract his hand, my king'
"Douxie you said? Do you work at the music shop" Jim turned around and pointed at the general direction of the shop
Douxie looked over Jim to see the direction he was pointing at, "yeah mate, I think I saw you and your friend before?"
"Yes I gave you that letter"
Douxie retracted his hand, "yes the letter. Now I remember clearly"
"Letter?" Claire asked
"Yes someone asked me to deliver a letter to him once, but I kind of forgot his name from back then"
"Oh I see"
"Yeah it was a letter from a colleague of mine" Douxie gave a look at Jim when he said colleague
"Hey Douxie!" A female with pink hair called for him from behind
"Coming love!"
"Is that your girlfriend?" Claire asked as she pointed at the girl
"Actually quite a more than that" Douxie smiled "well I hope to see you two at the concert" Douxie handed the paper to Claire and walked off towards the girl
Jim and Claire also made their way to the classroom.
"Who are those kids?"
"The girl is the one mentioned in the letter we got from the guardian and the other boy is... Well I don't quite know yet, but he evaded my analysis spell."
"Sounds interesting"
"Oh Zoe my dear, this is just the tip of the iceberg I believe. I think there is something very very big brewing in the shadows and these kids are somehow the epicenter of what's to come" Douxie and Zoe watch Jim and Claire as they walk off to class
A few classes go by and they find themselves running laps around the newly repaired gym
"So I realized I had gotten a lot more stamina recently" Claire said as she and her friend ran together
"Oh really girl?"
"Yeah plus... Don't tell anyone but I'm also a little more physically stronger, I think"
"You turning into SHE-HULK?"
"Don't think so. But this morning when I had to move the table a bit, it felt... Lighter. Much lighter than usual"
"Damn girl, then you definitely turning into a SHE-HULK "
"Stop it" they all laughed as they ran
"But anyways,what's the deal between you and Jim? You dating yet? Or better yet did he ask you to the dance yet?"
"No. And the dance is like another two months away. First the play has to be finished first for me to worry about a date."
"Don't worry the play is gonna be done this Friday right? Then you and Jim can spent your time on picking the perfect dress for you"
"We are not dating. Plus I don't know if he likes me the same anyways"
"Girl, he is totally smitten with you. Do you not know how he looks at you when you are not looking?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's even more in love with you then you are with him. Just go out with him already"
"I will try and see if he feels the same"
"Well then you have nothing to lose right? You can even give him a gift also just to sure"
"A gift, why?"
"I heard it's his birthday today. But I also heard he did much like it before but if you gift him a gift and confess than I think he will start liking birthdays more"
"Really? But I don't have a gift for him"
"Don't worry girl you can probably still give him tomorrow "
"Thanks Darcy "
As the gym class finished the day went with all classes finishing fast to everyone's delight. The last bell rang and the boys took a stroll to trollmarket, when Jim's phone got a buzz
Hey kiddo, I'm working double shift today so I'll only be home tomorrow morning at 6*
It fine mom, I'll make you some dinner and place it in the stove*
Thanks and happy birthday, love you*
Thanks mom love you too*
The boys came to trollmarket and for the next few hours they enjoyed as Blinky and Arggg tried their best to create a authentic human birthday. It was much less eventful then the last birthday Jim had in the other timeline, but this one was more meaningful for him because he could spent time with his loved ones once again.
As it got late Jim and Toby went home and Toby gave Jim a envelope
"What's this?"
"It's your gift"
"What's in it?"
"While I was on missions me the others decided to put together a few money and get you... That" Toby pointed to the envelope
"Thank you" Jim opened the envelope and it was a location
"What's this?"
"It's a location. It's a troll who we bargained with last time"
"So what is the deal"
"I know how you wanted to find your father, so I heard of a troll that can locate things very accurately but his price was a bit steep, but we managed to get one search request from him. You can ask him to search for mostly anything"
"Really? Anything?"
"Yeah, you can finally find closure of where you father is"
"Thanks Toby's this helps a lot" Jim hugged Toby and ran off home
"No problem, I didn't know you wanted to find your dad so bad" but before toby could get his complete sentence out Jim was already gone. "Goodnight Jim!" Toby shouted as he also went home
Jim cleared his table in the room and pulled out a map of the forest around arcadia.
'my king, are you aware of the massive potential this brings?'
'yes very much. We can use that troll to find the four prisms'
'yes my king. And we can be ahead of the arcane order by a mile, my king'
'now let's see, it's around... Here!' Jim pointed to a cave on the map
Jim transformed into his armour and jumped out of his window. As he ran through the trees he called Douxie
"Hey guardian, what's mate?"
"I have a big lead on how to find the prisms. I'll send my location so you can track me there"
"Good mate, very good. I'll settle up now and go to you now"
"See you soon" Jim hung up as he came close to the cave. Jim stood on front of the cave looking at its entrance.
"Here goes nothing..." As Jim stepped through the cave he felt a barrier at the entrance as he entered. The barrier was an illusion spell to hid the trolls house inside but as Jim stepped in he stepped into what seemed to be rubble of a burning cave. It was not visible from outside but now inside it was clear that the place was under attack. But there was not only fire there but also... Ice...
To be continued...