A Reward
Lady Megra pulled out another thing from her desk. She laid it in front of Jason who was now standing in front of her desk while the rest of the Blue 2 team sat back to observe.
Jason peered closer at it. There were two things given, one was a piece of paper and the other was a mysterious box with something inside. Jason looked at the piece of paper, Boops using the subsystem Jason got back at the intelligence trial library started to scream in excitement as he read over the piece of paper.
Jason looked at the title on the sheet of paper. It read
(declaration of support for the silver wings guild)
Jason looked back at Lady Megra who smilled at Jason's confusion.
"We did a bit of investigating thanks to Colby, we've thoroughly looked at the silver wings guild that your "brother" runs and we have decided that it's something we can support and possibly invest in for now. Perhaps your brother's guild can support you and the rest of the Blue 2 team members as we try and help the territory of Rodatika."
Jason looked at Lady Megra with a slight suspicion. He asked cautiously
"Why are you doing all of this? even for a reward of finding a clue, this is just too much"
Lady Megra pushed the piece of paper over to Jason and answered
"When a talented person appears in front of you, you try and keep them at your side with all means, even if it's just losing some money or valuables, I'm sure that if you stay with the rose knights you will give us manyfold in return."
Jason shook his head in disbelief, he muttered to himself
"what does she see with her eyes?"
Lady Megra stood up and stared at Jason straight in the eyes.
" with my "eyes" I saw a land, a vast land filled with trees and grass, with a warm sunny sky and mountains in the far distance. It was a beautiful landscape. But I saw a darkness deep within that land. In its very foundations, it was slowly eroding the beautiful landscape slowly taking over, I couldn't see the darkness's full effect, but just by looking at it once I could see that sooner or later the darkness would overtake the entire land making it into a miserable place of death."
Jason listened to Lady Megra carefully. After she solemnly finished, he looked at her for a good 5 seconds and then laughed. His eyes seemed to be filled with a dark light as he kneeled down and placed his right elbow on the table.
He started to Lady Megra no longer giving her eyes of respect. He said with a slight sneer
"so? what do you see now?"
The Blue 2 team members all stared at Jason in surprise. They hadn't seen this side of Jason before. He was usually a happy boy who was true to his desires running all around the place. An earnest boy who was always filled with determination. That boy was now staring at Lady Megra with an unreserved emotionless stare.
Lady Megra answered unwaveringly
"I see a rose blooming in that space, a single small rose, its tiny yet gives off power, the darkness hasn't reached it yet, and I don't think it ever will"
Jason looked at Lady Megra his lips raised in a half-smile. The two stared deep into each other's eyes. One an almost blank stare while the other was a diligent pair of eyes that had a hint of cunning behind it.
Jason was the first to break his gaze. Giving off one last small glare he took the piece of paper and the mysterious box and walked out the door.
Lucy the maid was about to stop him from exciting but she stopped when she saw Lady Megra shake her head. So the rest of the servants and guards stepped back and watched as Jason calmly strolled out of the office and into the hallways.
Boops tried to calm Jason down
'hey, hey, hey Jason, I know you're pissed that a bit of your background was just called out but that was a stupid move, treating your benefactor like that? come on dude'
Jason ignored Boops and countied to walk out of the rose mansion. None of the maids or guards stopped him, it seems news traveled fast in the mansion as they all respectfully moved to the side and allowed Jason to pass them.
As Jason walked out of the back entrance to where the field was. The sun was setting and darkness was setting in, the moon could already be seen on the end of the horizon. He looked back at the walls of the mansion. Seeing a brand new rose emblem inscribed on the walls. It was the one Jason had witnessed being made, the reborn rose.
A soft grin passed over Jason's face as he looked at it. The dark light seemed to lessen as he gazed upon the work that he and hundreds of others had done to put that emblem there.
Jason walked into the woods, shaking his head. He needed some time to cool off, having a person call out something he wanted to be buried was already crossing a line, but an NPC?
Boops wanted to interrupt that though saying that the NPC's were actually pretty smart, possibly at the level of humans, but seeing the darkness that was clouding Jason's brain space and his eyes Boops stayed quiet knowing that this was something Jason should go through alone.
Jason walked through the forest, to him it was walking but with his high agility stat, it was like he was sprinting across the forest when he was level 20 or so when he was running after goblins to kill after being scared of the intelligence trial.
He passed the barracks, the cafeteria and plunged deeper into the forest passing even the platform of the agility trial. The forest seemed to become a blur as Jason recalled unpleasant memories, he could feel himself spirally deeper and deeper into an abyss.
He clutched his head grasping it in his hands hoping that a physical force could take his mind off of the things he was thinking.
But as he suffered a gust of wind picked up and seemed to push him ever so gently forward. Stumbling through the trees while the cool wind kept on edging him on.
Jason opened his eyes, he gazed at his surroundings, it was a break in the forest. With a single hill in the middle of the small plain surrounded by trees.
A single old tree stood on the top of that hill.
And as Jason looked down he could see a few speckles of color signifying flowers. The gust of wind that had guided him before pushed him again. Jason with no mental energy left to decide what to do let it guide him up the hill.
Slowly but surely to the very top next to the tree. Jason leaned against the tree, exhausted with everything that was happening.
The gust of wind swirled around the plains. It grew bigger and bigger until it started to push back the tall grass on the plains around the hill. As the wind pushed back the long grass it revealed multicolored flowers hiding underneath it. All waving softly in the breeze. The breeze picked up again flying up, directing Jason's gaze in that direction also.
Jason saw the city, the city of Herdita lit up in all of its lights. Its business wouldn't be toned down just because of the time. Ships sailed in and out of the harbor and taverns and inns light up their lanterns and lights as people tired from work crowded into one. Street lights turned on one by one illuminating the cobblestone streets that numerous people walked on.
The moon was out, with the sun nowhere to be seen.
It shined down on the forest and the city. Its light reflected off of the shores of the sea. Stars started to illuminate themselves one by one. Each of them telling their stories if a person was able to connect them one by one.
The forest blew softly in the wind the treetops swaying slightly, like a sea of grains moving under the influence of the wind.
Jason looked at everything the flowers that revealed their beautiful colors for the second time. The city seemed so alive and lively that it made him want to smile. The quiet shores that shone like lights under the stars.
The wind started to softly die down the tall grass returned to its original position covering all of the budding flowers, the lights in the sky seemed to dim and the entire city seemed to dim down slightly.
The wind with its last remaining strength flew up the hill giving a gentle breeze to Jason like a final goodbye before it dissipated into nothingness.
Jason watched everything, his eyes seemed to light back up with the familiar light that he always had. A genuine grin covered his face once again. He lifted his arms up and gave a small stretch. He said to Boops with a smile
"I really screwed up there, didn't I?"
Boops only responded
'ya think?'
But while Boops was being sarcastic, in his brain space he was glowing a bright yellow almost as yellow as the sun. A very happy yellow.
Jason leaned against the tree shaking his head at how stupid he was in the past few hours. He really needed to do some fixing later. Jason gazed at a familiar notification coming up to him and smilled.
[you have witnessed a moment in nature]
[your status has been changed to healthy]
Jason looked at the moon. Its light shone back on Jason's face. He resisted the urge the laugh at the intense staring contest he was having with the moon. And after looking at the moon for a bit he slowly walked down the hill.
"I have stuff to do"
he said to himself as he walked down, a small spring in his step.