Chapter 63: Truths I

  A bright alien sun glared down from a cloudless blue sky, torching the dense jungle underneath. A group of humans made their way through the wet heat, following a path made by several groups over the last days. “If I never see this jungle again, it will still be too much.” Janette cursed and followed her fearless leader in a few meter distance. “Mr. Vitality over there does not care about the heat but normal people back here are suffering!” Janette said loud enough so Marcus could hear it. “As if. Demons are immune to fire damage, everybody knows that. How could you suffer from the heat?” He said without turning around. Janette contemplated to kick him in the ass but it was just too much effort right now.

  They had been on the trek for two hours only but the heat felt worse than last time they were here. “I think this part of the planet is having summer right now.” Grace joined Janette with a smile. “Hrrr” was Janette’s only answer. They walked for quiet some time without any small talk, avoiding branches, leaves and small, stingy insects. “Is Marcus okay? He seems a bit, I don’t know, down?” Grace said after some time and Janette looked at her for a bit. “Don’t worry, at times he needs to stew in his own thoughts. Once he is done he will tell us what is going on. Happened before.”

  Grace raised an eyebrow. “You two seem very close. Did you know each other before the monoliths?”, “No, we meet two years ago.” Janette said and continued walking without giving Grace anything to work with.

  “You should join us.” Janette said out of the blue after another ten minutes of silence had passed. Grace laughed “Seriously?” but Janette looked at her and said. “What, the great Grace Taylor could not possibly join a tiny clan?”. Now Janette smiled “Choosing a clan is like choosing a lover. You have done neither Grace.” the taller woman carefully controlled her expression and slowly started to understand why Marcus called this woman a demon. “I have my own reasons.” Grace said but Janette followed up as soon as Grace stopped speaking “You are afraid to get close to people and that they realize that you are weird.” Janette scored a critical hit against Grace.

  “Why do you think I’m weird.” Grace asked after another minute of silence and contemplating. “You think stabbing Marcus, just to prove your theory, is not weird? You play the friendly neighborhood Paladin. The poster girl for a whole generation of new class holders. But that is not you. Going after Marcus with a sword and enjoying it, that is you. Hanging out with us instead with people of your own level and station, that is you.” Janette unloaded a barrage and finished with “We are weird, you are weird. Join us. Be happy.”

  “I think you are interpreting a bit much into all of this. You don’t know me and you don’t know what I want.” Grace said and fell behind Janette, what ended their discussion for today and for the rest of the trip.

  Thanks to the better path, less monsters and the smaller group, they managed to cross the jungle in only two days. From there it was only hours to reach Earth and it felt good to set foot on the home planet, Marcus found. They said goodbye for now to Grace and Carmen but they would meet in a few days in Paris at the high level UN meeting. Marcus was full with positive energy not at least thanks to the contract in his backpack that said that the UN would pay him 250k dollars once a month to give his blood to Azaa. Even the several hours of delay on their flight back could not take this positive attitude away from him. Coming back home to their HQ and finding Ms. Russell already planting a small flower garden was the cherry on top.

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  They spent a whole day just relaxing and getting situated but in the evening of that day it was time for a clan meeting. That meant everybody gathered in the large common room and they would talk about various things regarding the clan and themselves. The first point on the agenda was the expedition and their impressions. When Candis, she demanded to be called by her first name, heard the news about the monoliths and the portals she was deeply shocked.

  The second point was Achara’s training. “To be honest I’m freaked out. Using Phase Walk to precisely dodge enemy attacks sounds cool in theory but if I mess up my timing I walk right into a potentially deadly strike. Aaaaannnnd I’m afraid Marcus is going to make me do one of his cruel training camps.” Achara said and Marcus felt hurt “They are not cruel, they are effective.” but the rest understood her fear. The last one who had to suffer was Kou, when he got his area effect ability. He still had nightmares. They agreed to protect her when Marcus went over board but allowed Marcus to make a training plan. “You know, gratitude looks different.” He said but would make the plan anyway.

  “Third point. I make a motion that the clan puts money together to buy the clan leader a fancy new armor.” Kou said to Marcus’ surprise. Everybody agreed, including Candis who had the time of her life, watching all of this. Marcus did not even get a chance to protest and was forced to accept the kindness of others.

  “Fourth point. I will go to Paris tomorrow and speak at this special secret UN meeting. I honestly don’t know what will come off it but I expect I will be back a day later.” Marcus explained. Nobody saw a problem with that.

  “Well…” Marcus started and Janette said “Here it comes.” and everybody waited for… something. “Am I so easy to read?” Marcus asked and everybody nodded.

  He took a deep breath and put a small cylindrical object on the table. “That, is my secret. I got this from a “Pearl of Wisdom” when I was a kid.” he swallowed hard, “My mother gave me the Pearl just before she died. She tried to calm me down and stop me from crying.... But anyway, I eventually opened it and this was inside.” Marcus explained and operated the device, and beamed the colorful graphics on the wall.

  “Once you have learned to read it, it shows you exactly what scaling attribute nearly every class has.” Marcus said and waited for the others to process the news.

  “Why tell us now?” Achara asked and Marcus formulated an answer “Because I’m sick keeping it a secret from all of you. Because I feel like an impostor because my insight comes from this device and not from me being special.” Kou looked at the device and said “I expected a book of some kind.” Achara agreed and Janette added “I thought some alien probe had burned it into his brain when he was a kid.” and Marcus realized they made fun of him.

  “We all knew, Marcus. We have brains too, you know.” Kou said and leaned back and put his arm around Achara who accepted the warmth. “You had to have some source but that does not invalidate all your hard work and the help you have given everybody around you.” Janette pointed out with a smile. “So, my big secret was no secret.” Marcus said and sat down defeated.

  “I did not know and I think it is really sweet of you to share your secret with everybody else.” Candis said and gave him a heartwarming smile. “When are you going to tell the rest of the world? When you tell them about the Fighter?” Kou asked and Janette was also interested. “I will make this public soon. I have an idea on how but I need some time.” More precisely I need a chance to talk with Kim, Marcus thought.

  After the eventful evening, he walked over the grounds of the estate together with Janette. It was a clear night with a full moon and they talked like they did in the past. “I’m going to come with you to Paris.” Janette said and he wondered where this was coming from. “Why? It is just a hearing. There is nothing you can do there.” Marcus said and she laughed. “Only a hearing? You are going to give testimony to some of the most influential people in the world. Carmen told me this is going to be only top level diplomats and scientists. This is high level politics and no less a battlefield as the one we normally move on. You will need support, even if it is only emotional.” Her answer was much better than he expected and he easily gave in.

  “Now tell me about Azaa. You spent a lot more time with her than I did.” Janette said and Marcus talked about all the meetings and interaction he had with her. Janette watched her friend talk about the ginghi woman for nearly an hour and all her assumptions were confirmed. She smiled and nodded at the right moments and pretended not to see the signs of her clueless friend falling in love.