The Fourth

A shocked expression appeared on Jason's face as he said. "Four?! What do you mean there were supposed to be four?! Who is the fourth?!" 

Norv placed his left hand on his chin and said. "I believe it was a man by the name of Jake. But I could be wrong..." He began to zone out as he mumbled to himself. "The Fourth was Jake, right? Was it Jake?" He moved his left hand away from his chin and held up four fingers. He began to mumble to himself as he moved one finger down at a time. "Jason. Jack. Thomas. And... Jake? Was there three Js or only two?" 

Jason had a look of surprise and confusion on his face as he thought. "Jake?! Jake was supposed to be here?!" He then mumbled to himself. "But Jake is...!" An image appeared in Jason's head. An image of Jason carrying a sword soaked with blood standing over multiple figures who laid motionlessly on the ground.

A voice said from behind Jason. "Jake is what?" 

Jason quickly grabbed the hilt of his sword with his left hand and spun around. He then said with a sigh of relief. "Oh it is just you." He let go of the hilt of his sword. His left hand fell back down by his side.

The man who was standing behind Jason, the man known as Jack, said with an intrigued look on his face. "Jake is what?" 

Jason said with annoyance. "What are you talking about? Why are you talking about Jake?" 

Jack said with an intrigued look on his face. "You said 'But Jake is...' but you didn't finish. But Jake is what?" 

Jason said with annoyance. "I don't know what you're talking about. Anyways, where is Thomas?" He stared at Jack with a confused expression and said. "How come he isn't with you?" 

Jack stared at Jason with an unsatisfied look as he mumbled to himself. "'You don't know what I'm talking about', huh?" He then pointed his right thumb upwards as he said. "I left him with Aeolos." 

Jason said while annoyed. "What? Why would you leave him upstairs? I sent you to go get him!" 

A mischievous smirk appeared on Jack's lips as he said. "It's taken care of." 

Jason said while annoyed. "What do you mean it's taken care of?!" 

Jack laughed mischievously and said. "I've handled it." He patted Jason on his left shoulder with his right hand and walked into the room. He began to walk toward the chest that was next to Jason's, his chest. 

Jason turned around and said with annoyance. "What do you mean 'you've handled it'! You've handled it, how?!" 

Jack chuckled to himself mischievously and stood in front of his chest. He looked at Norv and said. "Do you have a key, Sir?" 

Jason clenched his left fist and said angrily with annoyance. "Hey don't ignore me!" 

Norv looked at Jack and then at the chest Jack stood in front of as he said. "Oh my mistake. Should've opened it for you." He fished into his pockets with both of his hands and then pulled out a key with his right hand. "This opens all the chests." He tossed the key to Jack. 

Jack caught the key with his right hand. He then smiled warmly and said. "Much appreciated, Sir." He then squatted down in front of the chest. He stuck the key in the lock and opened the chest. 

Jason pointed his left pointer at Jason and said while annoyed. "Hey, you still haven't answered my question yet! What do you mean he is taken care of? And what do you mean you've handled it?" 

Jack sighed and said. "You'll see." He began to look at the contents within the chest. 

Jason also began to look at the contents within Jack's chest. At the top of the chest was white and red metallic armor. Both the white and red parts of the armor were made from similar material. The material was similar to the material that made up Jason's armor.

Jack stared at the armor within the chest and suddenly said. "That thing on your back. That is what got erased back at that building, wasn't it? The symbol of the Slasher Slayer." 

Engraved onto the back of Jason's armor was a strangely shaped symbol. It looked like a deformed G. But, it was more square like than a G. It bent downwards on the top right, bent inwards on the bottom left, and bent upwards on the bottom right. The top right was also extended outwards more than the bottom right which prevented the two parts from connecting. There was even a gap in between the top right and bottom right as well. Connected diagonally to both the bottom right part and the bottom left part was a center piece that was at a ninety degree angle. 

Jason thought. "'the symbol of the Slasher Slayer?" He then placed his left hand on his chin as he said. "I guess you could call it that..." 

Jack looked over at Jason and asked with curiosity. "What do you call it?" 

Jason scratched the back of his head with his left hand and said. "It's difficult to explain. I don't really call it anything..."

Jack had an unsatisfied look on his face upon hearing Jason's response and said. "Hmm." He stood up and began to pull armor pieces out of the chest and examine them as he said. "I wonder what is taking him so long?" 

Jason said while annoyed. "What is taking 'who' so long?! Did you even hear what I said?!"

Jack began to attach some of the armor pieces to his body as he looked over at Jason and said. "Huh? Did you say something, Jason?" 

Jason clenched both of his hands into fists. He had an angry and annoyed expression on his face as he was about to say something. 

Before Jason could say anything, Norv began laughing loudly. 

Jason looked over at Norv with an angry and annoyed expression as he said. "What's so funny?!" 

Norv smiled warmly and said. "You two remind me of my two younger brothers."

Jason's angry and annoyed expression disappeared. He instead had a confused expression as he said. "Your two younger brothers?" 

Norv nodded and said. "That's right. There were six of us in total. I was the third oldest. I had two older brothers, one younger sister, and two younger brothers. You two remind me of those two." He smiled again. 

Jason thought. "Six?! That's a lot!" He then said. "Are they from the Land of Warriors too?" 

Jack suddenly stopped attaching armor pieces to his body. He was currently covered with white and red metallic armor all the way up to his waist. His upper body was currently unprotected. He had a look of intrigue on his face as he looked over at Norv. 

Norv nodded and said to Jason. "That's right. All of us are from there." His smile then became faint as he said. "But, I'm the only one that left."  

Footsteps could be heard rushing down the stairs from the other room. 

Jack muttered. "Took him long enough." He began to attach pieces of armor to his body again. 

Jason quickly turned around as the footsteps got louder. He turned and faced a figure he had never seen before. 

The figure wore armor that had a mix of both thin black metal and thin black leather. The figure's chest, shoulders, back, arms, and legs consisted of thin black metal in the center of each piece. Along the sides of each piece was black leather. On the figure's hands were black leather gloves and on the figure's feet were black boots. The figure had red spiky hair and wore a silver mask that covered their face. Strapped to the figure's sides were two black knives. There was a long black knife strapped to their left side and a slightly shorter black knife strapped to their right side. Slung over the figure's right shoulder was a man. 

The man slung over the figure's right shoulder wore a red and black outfit. The dominant color was red and the secondary color was black. They had black boots on their feet. Strapped to their back was a sword which leaned to their left. 

Jason instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword with his left hand as he looked at the figure angrily and said. "Who are you?! And why do you have Thomas?!"