Chapter 3: The Brief

Jade was still in a mild state of shock from what Terese had just revealed. She was a relatively peaceful person- okay, okay, everyone would say otherwise- but despite her fiery temper, she wasn't DESTRUCTIVE or MEAN at heart. It wasn't like she lived to kill.

And apparently, that was her new job.

The scene of earlier that afternoon flashed back into her mind once more. She tried to shake it away, but again, the voice of Terese broke through her thoughts. "You must kill the demons… the hell demons from the Crack… they will be disguised… and will surely kill all Gifted Ones left." Jade had protested that any well trained endowed child could very well take care of themselves, but Terese shook her head gravely. "I'm afraid you're very wrong about that," she had said, her face more serious than usual. "These things are… different… Kyliana, they don't have second thoughts about bloodshed. They'll stop at nothing to kill." Jade had gulped and ran her fingers nervously throughout her hair, a sure sign that she was worried and/or anxious. Chris, who still couldn't believe that he was this so called Hunter, gripped her hand tightly and turned to the High Elder Dragon. "What's my job?" he had asked apprehensively.

"As I said before," began the dragon, "you are to watch over the Chosen One. Kyliana." Chris nodded firmly. "And, it is your job to be with her while she kills all the Hell-Demons from the crack and seals the crack once and for all." Jade had sat bolt upright. "Kill? And seal it? How, pray tell, am I supposed to do this?" Terese had sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, we are not aware of this. It is up to YOU to find out." Jade's trembling finger had pointed to herself incredulously. "Me?" Terese nodded. "Yes… you…"

The haunting and melodic voice of Terese faded out of her head and Jade sighed and flopped over on her bed dejectedly. "Whatsa matter?" Chris entered the room and sank down on the bed beside her. "What's the matter?" repeated Jade incredulously. "What's THE MATTER?" Chris looked at her in concern. "Yeah, what's the matter?"

Boys are SO clueless.

"Have you not HEARD what Terese just said?" asked Jade, her voice rising. "Course I heard. I think it'll be kinda cool, you and me, traveling around, without Orion breathing down our necks… speaking of, I'd better get out. He'd murder me for being in your room." He got up with a sigh and caught sight of Jade's worried face. "Don't worry, Jade," he reassured. Quickly, he kissed her forehead and left the room before Orion could bust him. Jade smiled at his sweetness, and it WOULD be nice traveling around with JUST Chris, but it wouldn't be all fun. She'd have to kill, something she didn't like doing. And this whole puzzle about closing the crack. How in the wide world was she supposed to do that?

Anxiously, she pulled her knees to her chest and sat like that for a moment, rocking back and forth in worry. It seemed Chris had gotten out of the room just in time, as a sudden knock at the door signalled Orion's presence. "May I- may I come in?" he asked hesitantly. With a nod, Jade gave him her consent. He came in and perched awkwardly on the very edge of one of her chairs beside her beds. "What is it?" came the dull voice of Jade. "Listen, I- I have to talk to you about something." Jade looked up curiously at the hesitant sound in his voice. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it abruptly. When he spoke again, the nervous sound was gone. "You're going to need some training," he said brusquely. "Training?" Jade echoed. "Orion, I've had nothing BUT training since I came to this school." A smile tugged at Orion's lips. "However true that may be," he started, "you'll need some… other… training."

"What type?" asked Jade interestedly. "Well, first off, you haven't been trained mentally to, well, KILL," he began, "and secondly, you're going to need some PHYSICAL training."

"Orion, are you saying I'm out of shape?!" asked Jade in a huff.

"NO!" Orion hastily replied. "I mean you'll need sword/sabre training, Weapons training, some martial arts and self defence mechanisms, and also, you'll need to learn how to kill some one with anything you have."

"Orion, with all this, you're turning me into some type of mass destruction weapon."

Orion grinned.

"Exactly."

"GUESS WHAT, GIRL?!" asked Tally, bounding up to Jade in excitement. "What?" asked Jade in mild interest, pulling her books from her locker. "I'm teaching you sword and sabre training!" Tally grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet happily. Jade turned to her in surprise. "I didn't know you were trained in Weapons," she said in mild shock. Her friend didn't seem like the weapon wielding type. "Sure do," Tally answered. "My dad taught me when I was little." Jade nodded on the outside but on the inside was still worrying about the whole thing. She couldn't possibly be expected to kill all the people on the list Terese had handed her. They may be Hell-Demons, but they were in Human form, and as far as she was concerned, that was murder.

"Why isn't Chris taking it too?" she asked as the thought struck her. They began walking towards their classes. "Didn't you know that he already KNEW all that stuff?" she asked, turning towards Jade in confusion. "No," replied Jade self-consciously. "Well, I mean, considering where he came from, he'd HAVE to know self-defence," continued Tally. "Wait a minute," said Jade slowly, coming to a dead stop. "Where he came from?" Tally nodded, still walking. "It'd be pretty rough where he lived, don't you think?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder. Jade rushed to catch up with her friend. "Hold it. You know where he lived?!" Tally paused, sensing sure danger. "Yeah… don't… don't you?" Jade stopped and whirled. "No," she said, her voice steely. "Hold on, Jade, wait till you're not so angry!" warned Tally. "I can't wait for ten years to pass," Jade growled through gritted teeth.

"Jade, what's the matter?" asked Tally, worried. Jade would've laughed if she hadn't have been so insanely furious. It seemed people were asking her what was the matter right, left and centre these days. Was it her fault that so many things WERE the matter? "He… he really told you his past?" Tally's eyes searched Jade for a hint of what was going on in the situation. "Yeah, he did, but, what does it matter?"

"It MATTERS because he's been keeping his past a secret from me for the whole time I've known him."

"But Jade, it's up to HIM if he wants to tell you his past."

"I understand that, but it's not right that he'd tell YOU his past and not ME!"

"Why, Jade?" Tally gave Jade a plaintive look. "Why? There are some things you wouldn't ever tell Chris."

"But- but-" spluttered Jade. "But this is BIG, Tally, I've never kept anything THIS BIG from him!!!"

"Aside from the fact that you were the Slayer?"

Jade's face darkened and Tally instantly realized her mistake.

"I didn't KNOW that, Tally! Do you think I WANT to be a human KILLING MACHINE?!"

"Well, you've always loved adventure-"

"Tally, this isn't adventure, this is MURDER! Besides, I would think you'd be more angry. The Hell-Demons I kill may be friends of Shirya."

"That's a low blow, Jade. You know I wouldn't stand in the way of saving the Earth and neither would my familiar. I don't understand why you're getting angry at ME! I didn't DO anything!"

Jade dropped into her seat in the classroom with a groan. Sighing, she turned to her friend. "I know, I know," she reassured. "I'm sorry. It's just this stuff with Chris, and… and with me being the SLAYER and all…"

Soothingly, Tally hugged her friend. "It'll be FINE, Jade. Don't worry. And Chris'll tell you sometime. Sometime soon."

"Do you think we could start our lesson sometime soon?" Ms. Flinton was staring at her and Tally and so was the rest of the class. Blushing, Jade turned towards the blackboard and prepared to start the lesson.

(A.N: Told you I'd get a chapter up soon! You'll be happy to know now that this is my current WIP now that I've finished Fantasy Realm (READ THAT PLEASE) so I will be working frequently on this)