The Start

Jack wakes up in his bed on the floor and looks to his left. He sees his big brother, Watts, sleeping on the big bed.

Should I wake him up? Hehehe. Jack thinks mischievously as he laughs to himself quietly.

Slowly, Jack creeps up to the bed Watts is sleeping in, then suddenly leaps off the ground and screams—

"WAKE UPPPP!!!"

He lands on Watts, laughing like a maniac.

Watts jolts up as fast as lightning and looks down at his little brother, who is laughing hysterically, with a somber smile.

"Why'd you do that, you punk?" Watts says while ruffling Jack's hair, his expression shifting in a moment.

Through laughter, Jack says, "Because I just wanted to! Hahahaha."

Watts pushes Jack aside, gets up, and puts on his clothes.

He crouches down so he's eye level with ten-year-old Jack, sighs, and says with a sad expression,

"Jack, I'm going on an adventure to faraway lands to explore the world. I have to leave you here, but Luka will come by every day to help you out, okay?"

Jack stops laughing and looks at his big brother, his eyes unknowingly moistening.

Tears start to fall, but Jack can't think of anything to say.

Watts stands up and walks to the door without another word.

As the door opens and Watts steps out, Jack calls out one last thing.

"Hic... W-why a-are y-you leav-ing... like Mom and D-Dad? Why does nobody want to s-stay with m-me?"

Jack's crying gets louder and louder. Watts turns around, hesitates for a moment—then leaves without saying anything.

SLAM!

***

Jack jolts up from his bed, his face stained with salty tears and his eyes red from crying.

"I had to dream about that day, huh? I tried my hardest to forget about it and remember the good about Watts, but I guess it was inevitable."

He looks out the window, his mood somber, and can tell immediately that dawn is approaching.

His expression changes to panic as he realizes what time it is. Hurriedly, he gets out of bed and throws on clothes suited for crossing the desert. He picks up his backpack from the floor and slides his arms through the straps.

It's heavier than I thought it'd be, Jack thinks as he finally gets ready to head for the Spire.

After about five minutes, knocks can be heard at the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three soft knocks in a row—Rielle's signal.

Three soft knocks with a one-second interval between them. A code they came up with before she left Jack's house the night before.

"Open the door already! It's still cold outside," Rielle whispers, shivering from the desert night's chill.

Jack opens the door and looks at Rielle, who has a purple scarf wrapped around her face.

"Come in," Jack says as he moves aside to let her enter.

As she steps inside, she unwinds the scarf and takes a deep breath of fresh air.

"So, how're we gonna get to the Spire?"

"Well, we're going to walk there, and once we arrive, we'll enter, climb down all the stairs, and reach the ground floor."

"That's it? That's your whole plan?" Rielle palms her face and continues. "What about food and water if we run out? What if you accidentally step on a poisonous burr?"

"Well... I was thinking we could ration the food we bring."

"Mmhmm. Ration food. But when we run out of water, we'll die."

"About the water... we'll ration that too, so stock up before we leave."

They argue about the plan for another ten minutes until they finally agree on what to do.

"Alright, you ready to go?" Rielle asks.

"Yeah, let's get going. We need to leave soon, or else the heat will make us want to wait."

"Alright, let's goooooo!!"

***

Jack sighs. "Let's take a break. We've been walking for around four hours now."

"What are you talking about? Have you never walked the desert before?"

"Ummm... no?"

Rielle stops walking and looks back at him, her eyes saying, Are you a dumbass, dumbass?

"What? Why're you looking at me like that? What did I do?"

"Nothin'. It's just... I shoulda known before we left that you're an idiot."

After finishing that, Rielle looks forward and continues walking.

They walk until nightfall, where they set up the tent to keep their body heat preserved so the unrelenting cold of the desert night doesn't get to them too badly.

Jack lays down close to the fire for warmth. He looks up at the night sky, examining all the stars in the vast sky.

The Void is somewhere up there, waiting for the key to be used. Don't worry, I'll meet you soon. Jack makes a promise to the night sky. Even if it can't hear him, he'll make it.

"What'cha thinking about?"

Rielle's voice breaks Jack out of his daze, and he sits up and looks her in the eyes.

"About the future, and what will happen after I use the key."

"Well I don't know what'll happen, but just know that whatever happens I'll be right here. No matter what." Rielle looks up at the sky while saying that. Her ears getting a little red.

"If you're gonna come with me I have to tell you everything that I've learned over the past couple of days."

Jack proceeds to tell Rielle all about what happened starting with the letter Watts sent him. He goes into every little detail about the things that he knows, from the Order to Gifts.

Rielle starts to stroke her chin showing that she's trying to digest the little information I know.

"Okay. Okay" She starts. "So there is an evil group called The Galaxy Order, they killed Watts because he stole the map of the Spire that we're about to go to, and you think the void is a force that will give us a Gift that is like a superhuman power."

"Yes, that's all I know so far so I'm hoping to learn more from Andromedas Cathedral."

Rielle nods and gives me a warm smile different from all the other times I've seen her smile. This smile shows genuine happiness.

"You know Jack. I'm really glad that I decided to come along with you."

Me and Rielle sit by the fire talking for a long while. We share stories of our childhoods, tell jokes, laugh, and have a good time until I feel the ground start to move around like something is coming from underground.