The Jade Swords; Prelude

God, this day is going to suck[1], he thought down heartedly. He yanked open his locker, pulled out his math book and tossed his science book in. He slammed his locker shut. It has been two weeks since I got back and I have not told anyone what has happened to me in that other place, he thought dimly as he slunked off to class.

He got to class just before the bell rang. I wonder if I can cast any magic. I haven't tried to cast any spells since I left the other place. I just don't know if it will work or if the spell will be noticed. "Ignis" he muttered while focusing at the teacher's desk.

The desk quickly burned, flames raging out of control and burning brightly as they licked the roof of the classroom. The fire alarms started wailing in unison. The crazed students panicked and rushed through the door of the room.

Oops, too much. "Aqua," he said hoping the pouring water would put out the raging firestorm. The water cascaded over the desk, putting out the roaring blaze that had eaten a hole in the roof.

He vacated the room quickly and silently, with a slight glimmer of hope that he had gone unnoticed. As he started to vacate the school with the other students he kept looking over his shoulder for someone who might be taking too much interest in him. He glanced over his shoulder again when he spotted a girl with her dark brown hair in a ponytail, wearing a faded green jacket, a bright orange extra low-cut shirt and blue mini-skirt, too short for her own good. She had a perfectly shaped body and perfect curves. The skirt showed her more of her body than the other cheerleader's skirts had.

He ducked into the Men's room quickly so no one would notice him. He cracked the door slightly so he could see out. When the beautiful young girl got there, he threw the door open and yanked her in the restroom with an extreme amount of force that he almost broke her arm in two. The door started to close, but his impatience forced him to grab the door and pull it shut. Once shut he locked it and put his ear to the door.

"Jack, like, what the hell are you doing pulling me into the Men's room?" she questioned with a hint of force saying she wanted answers now.

"Shut up and calm down for a minute. I want the school to finish evacuating so we are not caught in here. I will explain every thing in a moment," he said calmly. He put his ear back up against the door, but could not hear anything except the wailing of the fire alarms. "Okay now we can talk."

"Why here andnot somewhere else?"

"Elizabeth, I need to tell someone what I have gone through."

"Like, I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"You know when the train hit that bus five years ago?"

"Umm, yeah."

"I was on that bus and survived."

"I don't believe you."

Sigh, now she thinks I am a liar. "I was transported to another world, another dimension where I learned magic."

"Like, sure," she said sarcastically.

"Do you know why the fire alarms went off, because I set them off using magic to start a fire."

"Like, magic is not real. Magicians' only use smoke and tricks mirrors. Why should you be telling the truth?"

God, if you are listening help me out just a little. This is a sticky situation, plus how am I going to explain this? Yes, a demostration. Thank you, God. "Aqua," he said, water came flowing so fast the faucets shattered in tiny metal fragments.

"That can be explained. This school, like, has a low budget and like, can't repair the faucets."

"Ignis!" A small fire exploded at her feet making her jump back a little.

"Again easy. You could have put gasoline then thrown a match."

"TONITRUS!" Lightning exploded all around her destroying everything in the restroom. The lightning closed in on her. Everywhere the lightning hit fragments of the faded white tile floor sprang wildly in the air. The fragments jumped in every direction and sliced her gentle tan skin. Blood started to pour down her face along with her tears that ran into and along the cuts.

"St.. Stt…Sttop. Please stop," she cried out in pain. "P…pp. please."

Her crying blurred her speech so much that she was barely understandable.

Finally! Took long enough! The lightning died down and eventually stopped. "Sorry about the cuts. Want me to fix it?" he asked with sorrow in his heart. He started to walk toward her, and she started flailed at him like he was some monster. Her nails had gouged his face and arms. He grabbed her to make her stop, but she flailed even harder. He pulled her in to a hug so she could not move, but she bit him so hard blood poured from the open wound.

"Sanatio," he whispered softly. A warm and fuzzy felling came over her and her pain started to subside. Her muscles relaxed and she released her hold over him. She relaxed as the magic had relived her of some of her stress.

"Do you feel better now?" Jack asked sincerely.

"Y…y… yes. Like, what did you do to me?" Elizabeth asked softly with a few small sobs.

"I healed you using magic. It does wonders on the body. Do you believe in magic now?"

"I think so."

"That is good to hear." I used too much magic and I know better.

Elizabeth sat on the broken tile floor. She beckoned him to lie down and rest his head in her lap so that he could rest as she tried to comprehend had just happened. Jack laid down and put his head on her exposed legs. When everything started to sink she asked, "Like, why did you start the fire?"

"It has only been two weeks since I got back from that other place. It was horrible in the beginning. I just…" he stopped in mid-sentence.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but…" he stopped short again.

"Like, don't clam up. You said you needed to, like, tell me what you went trough," she said as she caressed his cheek and pulled her shirt down a little exposing more of her beautiful skin so he would talk more freely. "Like, is it that horrible?"

"I just don't know what will happen if I talk about it. I don't want to you to think I am a loon."

"Like, you are not a loon." She bent down and kissed him gently on the lips.

He kissed her back then said, "Okay, I believe you."

"Like, whenever you are ready."

"It was a Tuesday in September. I was riding the cheese wagon as usual. It seem like a normal day to me. It was sunny and I was reading a book called Pandora's Box. Some of the seniors were messing with me. They started with the usual name-calling. They called me a geek, a dork and a loser.

" One of the seniors decided to go further, he reached into my seat with his hand and started rubbing on me like he was gay. He tried to provoke me into doing one of two things: act gay or hit him. Well, I did neither. I just kept on reading my book. He pulled my books into the isle when I ignored him, but I still did not act.
Then, he stood up and said if I did not pay attention to his creativeness he would hit me until I do. And still no action from me except for the turning of a page. He hit me three times. I decided I had had enough abuse from him. So I dropped my book and hit him so hard he flew to the roof of the bus, but did not hit it. He did leave some slobber and some dark green mucus up there though. When he reached maximum height I brought my leg up over his body and slammed him into the ground with a force that left an impression. Right after that kick I quickly reached down and grabbed my fallen book and opened it."

He stopped to catch his breath. His breathing was still not at maximum efficiency after the use of so much magic. Apparently magic takes more energy to use in this world than in the other. I hope I can recover quickly.

"After the final blow which had left the senior unconscious, the other seniors decide not to mess with me unless they wanted to end up like their friend. The flat-nosed bus decided to keel over on the train tracks. The train was coming fast and had sounded its arrival. Mr. Al, who already had a heart condition, could not take the pressure of a metal monster coming to claim his life. I saw the pain and horror in his face and knew it was too late for him as the heart attacks forced all the life out of his body.

"With each passing second more students panicked and attacked savagely over whom would make it out alive. I quickly bounded over countless seats and people so I could make it to the front of the panic stricken bus. I finally bounded over the last seat and grabbed hold of the lever and pulled. It was jammed. I put my foot on the engine cover and pulled with all the strength I had.

"The door finally opened enough for people to get out. I grabbed the nearest person and shook them so she could think straight and tossed her out the door with no needed instruction. I started to reach for other people when they caught on.

"The others saw me throwing people out the door and bum rushed the door hoping to escape. I quickly climbed to the back and smashed out the emergency windows. The students had some sort of idea by then and started forcing people out of the door and the windows. But it did not matter anymore.

The train had its metal jaws at the tip of the bus. As the Iron death clashed with the cheese wagons flimsy skin I saw metal and glass fly into the air quickly. The last thing I saw was the metal jaws at my feet. "Tooooooot! Toooooooot!" The Grim Reaper sounded before I was unconscious."


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Siya was seated in the throne room staring off into space when her younger twin, Elya, walked in. She was wearing her usual red tunic, while Siya wore the royal purple that signified that she was the queen of their land.

"Where are your thoughts today, sis? Maybe, on the handsome Jack," she questioned using the voice of a livid little girl.

"Huh…what?? Sorry my mind is somewhere else." Siya sighed.

"And where is your mind?"

"On the day I met Jack; did I ever tell what happened that day?"

"Nope, never," she said as she hopped around the room.

"Do you want to know?"

"Yep, sure do!" She stopped hopping and sat down next to her.

"It was about five years ago when…"



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[1]Jacks thoughts are not the only one you will get to see.