Book 1 Chapter 27: School of Dead Regrets
Chapter 27: School of Dead Regrets
"We need to discuss what we know has been going on as well…" An old short grey haired man said with difficulty.
As if pulled away from being bewitched the group, including isaiahh, took in a breathe before nodding. However, Isaiahh was the first to ask a question in return "What do you mean 'what has been going on' that you know about?"
The second of the only two women in the room, the one who hadn't protested about Jaegers theory and existence, spoke up as it would seem she knew the most "Several weeks ago…a death occurred in the village of 'Betoh' at a school…over the course of several days the students stopped coming to school, and in fact many have disappeared…the teachers weren't aware of what was effecting them and do to the sudden occurrence of them disappearing, nobody was able to get any leads other then the previous death that occurred there." She seemed to have a conflicted glimmer in her eyes but it soon disappeared as Jaegers wings floated down over his shoulders and she stood forward.
"I am a private investigator from where I come from…tell me where this village of 'Betoh' and I shall go there."
She nodded and looked to the other elders who in return shrugged or simply nodded their heads as several eyes closed.
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Jaeger had a lot to think about as Isaiahh lead him around the 'village' which for all and tense and purposes should be called a town.
This time, without being stopped he walked to the item shop he had seen before and stepped through its doors only to find it contained weapons of many varying kinds across its simply adorned walls. No magical items, no mystic items, just merely simply talismans based off of the religion of this world towards psychics.
However, with the pretext of knowing an 'after life' did exist, Jaeger traded several things for talismans, blessed water, and ritualistic items.
"Ready?" Isaiahh asked after pointing out several key items.
"I think so…" Jaeger muttered as he lit up a smoke as they walked.
"You know…if I could get a set of those wings, I'd be a happy man" Isaiahh smiled to ease the mood while Jaeger chuckled.
"You would go through…quite a bit to receive them I can promise that…"
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Just a day later the two arrived at a town that looked a lot like the one they had left.
"This is a sister town not far from ours" Isaiahh said simply as he lead them through the main gate that had long and tall walls on either side of it that disappeared into the distance amongst several trees.
"Halt old scounderal!" A just as old voice called out from the top of a 2 story house.
"Eh? Was that our lord and savior the dark underlord speaking to me?" Isaiahh got into a pose like a school girl with his leg pumped out and up and one finger twirling his cheek.
"You…little fuck" An audible sigh could be heard.
Isaiahh smiled warmly as a man about the same age as himself came out from the two story building which strangely looked a lot like Isaiahh's.
"Jaeger…this is my lifelong brother and friend, Andrew." The two hugged for as tight as their muscles would allow.
The man looked Jaeger up and down, "Eh…you don't look like a grandchild, or I would've met you by now…so, ill assume you are here to help us with our problem."
Jaeger raised an eyebrow but nodded.
"Mmm…I thought so…" Andrew said with a downcast glance behind him.
"Andrew and me have been friends our whole lives, and after being given the rank of elder separated to the two closest towns…he is the wisest of this town, and in some cases even wiser then I" Isaiahh lifted a rolled up smoke to Andrew who had a forlorn look, he smiled weakly and lit it up.
"*cough* fuck…" Andrews smile grew wider, while his eyes started to get red.
"Yeah…I should've said that wasn't tobacco…oh me…must be my dementia sigh" Isaiahh laughed and grabbed the rolly as Andrew held it up while shaking his head, and then puffed it several times before handing it back.
'I wish I had a good friend like this…sigh' Jaeger smiled meekly.
The two waved him into the house, where Jaeger would find out that they had the same taste for everything including furniture down all the way to the carpet. It wasn't a perfect mirror image, it would seem the items acquired in their life long travels were a bit different but apart from this…
"Anyway enough about us…explain what you know, ill tell you what you don't" Andrew put out the smoke as his gaze became serious.
Isaiahh held up a finger, "Hold on…we have some other things to tell you first…"
The two proceeded to explain everything that had been told to Isaiahh, now to Andrew. Who unlike the other elders, simply nodded "That's…crazy, and also really shitty."
Jaeger nodded, "I'm sorry…life is strange."
"You can say that again you little shit" Isaiahh said with a sad face, as he was reminded of his own current circumstance.
"I have a question he may have not asked…what was the 'limit' of that 'map' that you spoke of for the demi plane" Andrew was seemingly unaffected by all the knowledge.
"Oh…well, from his town which didn't seem to exist in that place…there was a fort, a cabin, a lake, a hermit hut and a awhile after that nothing but an abyss…it wasn't large, but from the place I was transported to which seem to be the same coordinates of where I was before not far from the fort…It would've reached several miles beyond here." Jaeger rubbed his chin and nodded, he hadn't thought of this either.
"So…several focal points…the hermit hut you spoke of does exist in this time, an old man lives there actually but…he is a kind person, trust my heart in that as Isaiahh knows him too. He is our third friend, but is kind of a shut in. strange…why that would be left…the lake does exist as well, it is called Lake Sureen…secondly from where you said the fort exists, that's not far from Isaiahh's town, whereas…'the cabin' resides centrally where my town Betoh resides…"
Jaeger made his frog appear from mist, causing Andrews eyes to raise to study it deeply. From its mouth a piece of paper and pen plopped out onto the carpet before it disappeared with a pat to the head from Jaeger.
"Let me…I'm a scribe" Andrew said while picking it up, his hands danced skillfully over the paper and several circles and lines appeared before countless symbols filled the rest of the surface.
"The fort will be the central point of the paper, in turn on the back side…" Andrew created a near duplicate based off of what Jaeger said 'where he came from' was like merely from memory.
Jaeger realized Isaiahh was right when he said Andrew was proficient in other things. After about 20 minutes Andrew looked over to Isaiahh, "A real smoke this time"
Isaiahh smiled mischeviously, but pulled out a tobacco rolly.
"Actually…smoke mine" Jaeger held up his smoke, wafting off the scent of vanilla from its body.
"Okay" Andrew took it and lit it up while muttering under his breathe 'Vanilla?...mmm…vanilla…'
"Alright, on 'your side' Jaeger, the fort is the central point and west of it on the sheet in a line is the cabin, then the lake, and finally the hermit hut…the 'forest of death' that surrounds the cabin is the circle around it, it meets right at the edge of the fort, where the circle for 'the swamp' surrounds it…I noticed not a lot of the rest of the 'map' on your side is with more names, this could only mean other places existing in the 'now' don't exist there"
"What are those places?" Jaeger asked as if to find an answer to that aspect.
"A church…double the distance from his town Bastoh to my town Betoh in the opposite direction is a Parish, a small one only being made up of a monastery and church which on your side is the farthest you can go east. North of my town, is the school we have had those problems…it's about half a mile up from here…within the circumference of what you said the demi-plane takes up that only leaves one more place…"
Isaiahh looked down at the sheet with a frown, "The lord house"
"Lord house?"
"Remember what I said about kingdoms? Well a small time pompous douchebag watches over our small area….beyond it are several other towns he watches, 9 in total…but they aren't apart of your map so…"
Andrew nodded, "A real douchebag…"
"So he must be a part of this somehow…or his ignorance was" Jaeger said nodding.
"About the school…as Isaiahh said several weeks ago we had a death at the school, it was a student and nobody knows the situation precisely of how they died, but it is assumed to be a suicide…not many days after, 4 students didn't appear at school, and thus the teachers assumed that they were emotional and didn't come because of the death of a class mate…that was until the parents showed up asking where their child was. That's when it started, several students or one at a time began not showing up to school…and the search began, only to find nothing."
"Describe the teachers to me" Jaeger asked after taking back the newly formed smoke from Andrew.
"I need one of those…anyway, the teachers are men and women separate from this town's residents. They live on the premises of the school, which is quite large. They are from certain universities far away, when you graduate you usually choose a school to work from in an area of your choice, from there you teach until you have 'gained' enough experience to go up in rank."
"An educational ranking?" That was quite strange.
"Its just how our systems work in this world…just like a craftsmen goes from a journeyman above, a teacher must gain the years to teach at a university or otherwise as well. The school can't be said to be a bad one, it isn't mid ranked…but it is definitely low on the mid ranking. Its just our area, there aren't a lot of towns around for a bit"
"So only your two towns utilize this school?" Jaeger asked while breathing out a long puff of sweet smoke.
"No…my town has people who train towards other things, thus they need not more then basic education, which parents pass down by word of mouth. You only go to school to do things in law, scribing, philosophy…Betoh has many who are within those arts, whereas my town of Bastoh has mostly craftsmen and thus the parents teach their kids. Depends on the town you're in, but it is a greater system in my opinion."
"Hmm…is cadence's father apart of the military?"
"Yes, mother too…her mother is hot headed, and her father is an archer with great senses to nature. That's why she always leads the hunts, but they are away currently from Bastoh." Isaiahh nodded.
"Alright I was just wondering about that as an example…onto the school again…as an old man who knows well of this area, can you describe any of the kids or teens that went to that school to me?" Jaeger rubbed his chin with a hand, while the other brought the smoke to his mouth.
"Rambunctious, cliquey, reserved, outgoing, like regular teens…each art has a certain line between the one next to it, for me as a scribe I sure as hell hate other arts, not brutally, but just naturally like…mm…like a simple aspect of the system. Its like how football players may hate lacrosse players…even though they're both sports."
"Ah I see…so divisions between classes must have occurred as well…bring me to the school"
Andrew and Isaiahh nodded together in sync, "Alright"
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It wasn't too long of a trek through the trees surrounding Betoh. A well layed path took them right to the school with ease. Of course, these paths didn't exist where Jaeger came from or in other words they went unnoticed due to overgrowth.
Small and multicolored flowers hid behind dark oaks before revealing their splendor. The light cascaded through the warm air, shining lights inbetween the shadows of the underbrush.
'Beautiful' was a word that Jaeger would never think to have muttered in this place before, but he did now.
Before long a jagged stone wall met his eyes beyond the trees.
Taking a full glance at it before him, the wall was 8 feet high with 4 2-foot tall bricks. Along its top was a simple rail, which met the wall continually with 4 inch bars every half a foot. Down to the right a ways was a gate matching the top railing, at least in the aspect of bars.
It was 6 feet tall, with a thin cover of stone going across its top. A thick segment of iron had a large hole for a key on it. This type of key reminded Jaeger of the large keys that some people used in his world, of course layed with magic so that they were unpickable.
It was indeed an old style.
"I don't have the key" Isaiahh said.
Andrew looked at him, "Ah…" as if to mean he didn't either, not that it would make much sense for either of them to have one.
"I do" Jaeger said with a smirk.
"Eh??" The two said in unison as their eyes followed his hands pushing towards the gate.
*crrreeek*
The door made quite a loud sound as it slowly swung open without haste from the force lightly pushing it.
"Ah…" The two nodded, as if they were the wise ones.
"Tsk…come on, show me the grounds" Jaeger smiled as a smoke ran up to his mouth in a flash before the end ignited, smoke billowed forth out into the grounds of the school compound.
Andrew took the lead through the bar gate, and glanced around several times to point at things.