Airien Academy – The Celestial Roundtable Chamber
Crackling with celestial glyphs and dimensional flames, the room buzzed as the chosen students returned from mentorship. The ancient Knights stood in their respective seats of power, looking regal yet worried. Jack and Henry had just finished sharing their tale.
---
> KAINEN, arms folded, voice like a composed storm:
"So… he's accepted the Free Abyss?"
"And worse… he believes it's love?"
> JACK, nodding solemnly:
"Yeah. And it is love… but not the kind we're used to."
"It's not poisoned. It's… sincere. Just warped by too much truth."
> APREXION, grunting, explosive aura flaring slightly:
"The Abyss doesn't need lies. That's the terrifying part. They use honesty to break you."
> HELA, tapping her sharp fingers against her arm, voice seductive yet wise:
"Mm. The kiss of clarity with the sting of collapse… I've seen it before."
"Banjo. Loyal, noble, pure. Got twisted not by hate… but by too much purpose."
> RACTOR, zipping briefly between two spots, twitching with built-up energy:
"It's like… They let you run fast enough to escape your shadow. But that shadow was the anchor that kept you human."
> CON, reality bending around him, calmly whispering multiple truths at once:
"Freedom without tether becomes madness in disguise."
"And Jair? He's freer than anyone we've ever met."
---
The students entered the circle, eyes wide with shared burden.
> IAN, sword across his back, stoic as ever:
"If he's beyond saving, then what's the mission? Elimination?"
"Because I won't lie—if he's hurting innocents, I draw the blade."
> SONIA, emotional spectrum pulsing subtly:
"Wait—he's not hurting anyone, right? He's… living his truth?"
"Then… are we the invaders?"
> KENNEDY, quietly sketching glowing diagrams midair:
"It's like... he's rewritten his framework. Same code, different language."
> YVONE, with a softness hardened by pain:
"I just want to know—do we want to bring him back... or do we want to understand him?"
> OSEI JERRY, eyes low, voice monotone but piercing:
"Maybe we're scared. Because what if he's right?"
---
Jack stood still, hands trembling slightly.
> JACK, voice soft, searching:
"I remember my moment..."
"When Bhine tried to take me."
Everyone paused. Even the glyphs on the wall slowed their dance.
> JACK (cont'd):
"He whispered: "Be the god you were born to be. Shine so brightly that no one can ever dim you again.""
"And I almost did it. I almost let go of everything. Friends. Family. Myself."
"But something hit me—growth isn't detachment. It's awareness with humility."
"I don't have to burn the world to be seen. I just need to see myself clearly enough to stay in it."
He looked around at the circle.
> JACK:
"Jair isn't a villain. He's what happens when someone chooses a different truth."
"And I think we owe it to him… to not save him."
"But to reach him. Not with swords. Not with pity. But with what he gave up—choice."
---
> KAINEN, smiling slightly, proud:
"Spoken like a Champion in the making."
> CON, reality around him folding into a contemplative hum:
"Then the mission is clear… not redemption.
But conversation."
The Free Abyss — Realm of Twisted Truth
The air shimmered with freedom—unbound, unforgiving. Gravity hummed like a lazy jazz solo, skipping notes. A crooked sun dangled sideways in the violet sky, bleeding starlight.
Jair, standing bare-chested with pain-marked scars glowing like molten runes, let out a long, satisfied exhale.
> JAIR, rolling his neck with a crack:
"Klexis. Hit me again."
> KLEXIS, brows furrowed, gripping his floating hammer:
"You serious? That last one should've collapsed your rib cage."
> JAIR, eyes steel, unmoving:
"Exactly."
BOOM—the hammer strikes again.
But this time, a strange flare bursts from Jair's chest—not blood, not Avia... Clarity.
His aura erupted like a crescendo of glass shattering in harmony. Each shard reflecting a moment of suffering. Each piece of pain becoming armor.
> JAIR, smirking, eyes sharp like broken mirrors:
"Pain doesn't just build strength… it focuses it."
"Every scream I swallowed, every silent night I endured… I'm the weapon now."
Klexis gave a lazy shrug, twirling his hammer, its impact trail cracking the ground.
> KLEXIS:
"Good for you. I don't need agony. I just own the blow. I control impact itself."
"What hits me? I hit it harder… from inside."
Off to the side, Eugene blurred between warped trees, his form distorting reality like wind slicing dreams.
Suddenly—
A portal tore through the sky.
It didn't shimmer—it declared itself. Controlled, deliberate, resonating with intent. From its swirling center stepped Jack, followed by Henry, Sonia, Ian, and the others.
The moment was thick.
Klexis stepped forward, hammer twirling, eyes narrowed.
> KLEXIS:
"Well, well... Guess class reunion came early."
"What're they doing here, Jair?"
Jair didn't answer right away. His eyes locked on Jack—memories surfacing like ghosts in the fog. His hand instinctively gripped his side—where an old wound, a conversation, or maybe a laugh once lived.
Then it hit him.
> JAIR, tilting his head, voice cool but stinging:
"Ah… you.
The boy who flinched at his own light.
The one who shrank so others could feel tall.
The one who told me to chill while the world choked him."
Jack smiled, eyes calm like the eye of a storm.
> JACK, stepping forward:
"Still poetic, huh?"
"Yeah… I'm still me. The one who complained. The one who doubted."
"But I'm also the one who didn't stop trying."
Jair's smirk faltered—just for a flicker.
> JAIR, crossing arms:
"Trying? Or just compromising with your pain?"
"I embraced mine. I became it. You? You're still scared of burning too bright."
Jack's smile dropped—not in anger, but in recognition.
> JACK:
"No... I'm scared of burning others just to feel warm."
The Free Abyss pulsed around them.
Behind Jack, the group fanned out slightly. Sonia's aura radiated soft defiance. Henry crackled with ready voltage. Ian had a hand on his blade, not for war—but for protection.
> JAIR, slowly walking forward:
"So what? You here to drag me out? Put me in Avian cuffs?"
"This is freedom, Jack. Pure, raw, painful—but mine."
Jack looked around—at Jair's team, at the warped terrain, at the freedom etched in every fractal of this place.
> JACK, softly:
"I didn't come to save you."
"I came to understand you. And maybe remind you…"
"…that even freedom without love becomes a beautiful cage."
Jair's eyes narrowed.
> JAIR:
"And love without pain?"
"That's a lie this place will rip from your chest."
A hush fell.
Then Henry stepped beside Jack, his voice charged but warm.
> HENRY:
"Then show us."
"Not with violence. But with you."
"Let's clash. Not fists—truths."
Jair raised a brow.
> JAIR, amused:
"You want a Clarity Duel? …Heh."
"Haven't had one of those since Banjo. He lost his mind halfway through."
Klexis let out a low chuckle. Eugene finally stopped zipping, standing in the tree shadows.
> JAIR, smirking darkly now:
"Fine. You wanna talk? Let's see how much of your 'truth' survives... against mine."
The Truthfield Arena — A War of Mirrors
The Truthfield pulsed like a living mind—stitched together by thought, echoing every word with visual manifestations. Around them, glimmers of what could have been flickered: shadow versions of Jack yelling, Jair crying, lives re-written, decisions forked into hypothetical infinities.
The floor beneath Jack and Jair was neither stone nor light—but understanding. Treacherous. Fragile. Sacred.
They circled each other like two truths about to collide.
---
> JACK, voice calm, eyes fixed on Jair like a man walking into his own reflection:
"You know... I used to hate you."
"You were loud. Unapologetic. Cutting people open with words like you were doing surgery with no anesthetic."
"But deep down... I envied you. You had the courage to speak what I buried."
"I didn't hate you, Jair. I hated that you were me… without the leash."
A ripple of vulnerability shimmered in the arena—a younger Jack hiding behind classroom laughter—vanishing just as fast.
> JAIR, scoffing, eyes sharp like cracked glass:
"All I saw was weakness."
"You whined through life like you were the first to feel pain."
"You weren't alone, Jack. I'm a chosen one too. I'm introverted too. But I didn't shrink. I didn't beg the world to be softer—I carved my place in it."
"You became a dummy. Another doormat with dreams."
He spat the word like it tasted foul.
Jack closed his eyes briefly, then opened them with... not fire, but depth.
> JACK, nodding:
"You're right. I did shrink."
"I folded myself into whatever shape made others comfortable. Became their echo chamber. Lost my spine trying to hold everyone else's world up."
"But you know what I learned?"
The ground quivered as the truth started building.
> JACK (firm, voice rising like a steady drumbeat):
"Bravery isn't just yelling louder than the silence.
It's standing tall when everything in you wants to disappear."
"I was a people pleaser. A yes-man. A ghost in plain sight. But if I had been like you… fire without filter? You would've hated me for it."
"Because I would've been a mirror. Just like now."
The arena conjured flickering forms of Jair—a mirror image—yelling, crying, vulnerable. He turned away from them.
Jair's smirk twitched. For the first time… a crack.
> JAIR, softer, pushing through:
"Alright... fine."
"But you left. When the world got hard—you disappeared."
"I stayed. I fought. I found her. I found Lis."
(His voice shifted—raw now.)
"She sees me. Not the 'twisted' me. The real me. And I love her. That's it."
A glowing image of Lis formed—her hand gently holding Jair's wrist, grounding him. Not corrupted. Not controlling. Just there. Unshaken. True.
Jack saw it, and he didn't deny it.
> JACK, warmly:
"I'm not here to take her from you."
"I'm here to see you… one last time.
To see if the Jair I knew is still in there. The one who didn't just fight the world—but wanted to fix it."
Jair's expression twisted—anger? Shame? Nostalgia?
> JAIR, voice lower now:
"He's still here...
...but he's tired, Jack.
Tired of screaming into a world that covers its ears."
"Lis doesn't try to fix me. She just... lets me be."
A pause.
> JACK, stepping forward, hand to heart:
"Then let me just be here, too. Not to argue. Not to change you.
But to let you know… I finally stopped hiding.
I grew into myself.
And I still remember us."
The arena fell silent. Even the hypotheticals stopped flickering.
The two stood there—past and present. Light and sharpness. Silence and flame.
This wasn't a duel anymore.
This was a reunion.