Episode Jacob: Chapter 3: Depths

Chapter 3 of Jacob's story.

            Jacob angled himself towards one of the terraces of the descending path into the depths, but the last attack from Aeris knocked his sense of balance all over the place.  His eyes told him what he should do, but his disoriented body couldn’t respond correctly.  A few moments later, he had a rough crash landing into the ground, all but destroying what little aura he had remaining.  He was slow to get up given the nature of what had just happened, but made his way over to a nearby wall to rest against so his aura could replenish.  As he laid there, he could hear the clashing of Pyrrha’s blade with Aeris’ chakrams.  He took a few deep breaths hoping that his aura would begin to regenerate faster if he took his time.  But no more than a few breaths into his recovery, a loud growl came out of the depths of the quarry.  Jacob was not sure what that sound was, but he was in no hurry to find out.  He kept resting trying to keep his breathing calm and balanced, but the roaring kept getting louder and louder.  And as the roars grew, the ground also began to shake.  Causing more and more of the loose rubble of the old town to begin falling into the abyss as well.  Jacob pulled out his Scroll and had it scan his Aura levels.  It was roughly around 45% restored.  Not great for a fight with a potential giant Grimm, but enough to keep himself alive if need be.  And as if on cue, just as he finished checking his Aura levels, a gigantic claw latched itself onto the edge of the ledge just in front of Jacob.  And what pulled itself up was a grotesque creature of Grimm.  It looked like a giant mole with spines growing out of its back.  The claws were curved and sharp enough that they were cutting deep into the earth that it intended to climb up.  Its eyes were black, mirroring most blind moles of the animal kingdom, but its nose was squirming about pinpointing the exact location Jacob was in, as well as powerful wiggling ears that seemed to indicate not only could this creature smell its prey, but hear them as well.   Jacob quickly got up and drew his primary blade to try and defend himself, as he also glanced around for any potential options of escape.  His only options however appeared to either be run further down into the depths, or run for the surface and hope he could beat the creature out, but he had fallen down so deep the latter seemed near impossible.  The creature brought its right claw down on Jacob, and he did a quick slide towards the beast while using his sword the block the claw away from his body.  Jacob then ran as fast as he could and cut into the creatures exposed gut.  Given the sheer size of the monster, it wasn’t enough to kill it, but it did cause the creature to reel back in pain.  Jacob then made a sharp right turn and began running as fast as he could up the slope towards the surface.  He didn’t want to use his Semblance in fear that it would drain his aura far too quickly leaving him defenseless.  The creature finished its roars of pain, then began sniffing for Jacob.  The moment it got his scent, it began charging up the path like an avalanche, tearing apart the ground around it causing small landslides to slide deeper into the quarry.  Jacob tried to ignore what was happening behind him and kept running.  While running was a tiring act for his stamina, his aura was able to continue to replenish itself as he continued to avoid fighting the creature.  But he knew this would not last.  Despite its size, the creature was moving far faster than Jacob could run.  He checked his scroll again to check his aura levels, and he was up to 85%.  It wasn’t perfect, but as the creature was bearing down on him, it would have to do.  He stopped his ascent, and began charging the creature.  The creature heard this and began swinging its claws wildly causing dirt and debris to fly towards Jacob.  As soon as the debris was almost right next to his face, Jacob quickly activated his Semblance, and used his Time Dilation to dodge incoming debris and run up the arm of the creature.  He cut into the creature’s right arm and dragged it along while running up onto the back the creature, and as soon as he reached the shoulder, he threw a pair of explosive kunai at the creatures ears and one more at its nose, and used the reeling monster to leap up to the next level of the quarry.  As soon as he touched the ground of the higher level, his Time Dilation ended and everything caught up with the creature, causing it to roar even louder in pain.  Jacob continued to run now having gotten a good chunk of the distance he needed to cover taken care of.  He managed to clear another two levels before the creature seemed to have stopped roaring and regained its bearings.  Jacob took a deep breath and hoped that maybe the creature wasn’t evolved enough to formulate a plan to try and learn from its mistakes and counteract Jacob’s time dilation.  That it would continue to try the same tactic over and over again until Jacob was at the top and able to escape with Pyrrha.  But that would not come to pass.  Instead of trying the same tactic again, the creature leapt from its previous terrace and landed several yards ahead of Jacob, blocking his path forward.  Jacob skidded to a halt, and prepared to fight once again.  The creature instead of trying to dig up the ground around Jacob’s feet, instead chose to take swings at Jacob himself with its claws, but also cut into the pathways of the higher terraces, making them impassible.  Jacob kept blocking and dodging as best he could, but given that he no longer had any realistic opportunities to continue to escape, he was forced to fight the monster head on.  His Semblance was still on cooldown, and even if he had it available, the creature was making sure all of its strikes made it next to impossible for Jacob to attempt to climb up one of its arms again.  He kept his defenses up as best he could, but even given his fighting prowess the absolute raw power of the creature was proving too much.  While Jacob would deflect the majority of a claw attack, every strike or so perhaps some debris kicked up by the energy used by the creature to even strike would hit Jacob with full force, causing his aura to deplete further and further.  And the effects were starting to wear on Jacob.  His vision started getting blurry, he was struggling to keep himself standing upright simply due to the weight of the claws being bared down on him.  He started thinking about what might happen next.  What kind of fate would he meet?  What awaited him beyond?  He had heard Natalie’s story about going to the land beyond the grave, but wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.  All he could think about was one memory.  One moment that for some reason seemed to stick in his head.

 

 

 

18 Years Ago

The Village of Aequo

 

 

 

            Jacob stood in the middle of an empty field surrounded by houses.  He couldn’t remember why he was standing there.  Everything seemed aloof and simple.  Then he saw several kids run past him, and he instinctively ran along with them.  He looked around and saw some of his closest friends in amongst that number as well as some faces he didn’t recognize.  They ran around, jumped up and down, passed a soccer ball on the ground, played tag, and for some reason Jacob felt like he was doing all of this at once.  Then he heard a sound, and turned to see both his parents smiling and waving at him.  Jacob smiled and ran over to them, the both of them lifting him up in the air as he was excited to see them.  They then put him down and started walking back.  Jacob’s father looked down at him and said,

            “Did you have a good time today son?”

            “I did!” Jacob said!  He then started speaking at top speed everything he had done that day.  His parents just continued to smile.  As soon as they reached their house, Jacob’s father walked inside while his mother stayed outside with Jacob.

            “You’ve got some good friends Jacob.” she said ruffling her hands in his hair.

            “I do” Jacob said with a big grin.  “I hope I get to be with them forever.”

            “I do too.  And you will.”

            “Can you see the future mommy?”

            “No child.  But I can see how people’s hearts grow overtime.  Even if you go to the farthest corners of Remnant away from your friends, they will always be with you.  They will always care about you.  So long as you never forget them and help them when they need it, they will do the same for you.  Can you do this for me Jacob?”

            “Of course!”

            “Good.  Now it is time for you to MOVE!”

 

 

Present Day

 

 

            Jacob was snapped out of his trance hearing the scream that echoed from behind him.  He quickly guided the claw away from him as the new voice ran past him and managed to bury his blade in the snout of the creature.  The creature then reeled back on its hind legs and clasped its snout.  The stranger then pulled out an Atlas grade explosive and stuck it on the uncovered belly of the creature.  As it began to fall down to the ground, Jacob realized that it was a land mine.  And by falling over in pain, the creature was going to detonate it.  With him and his newfound savior along with them.  He quickly started to run for the edge in an attempt to try and get below the blast and have his Aura take the concussive force the mine would create, but it was too late.  Jacob watched almost in slow motion as the creature began to tumble, the mine hitting the ground, and the explosion beginning.  But then in a blink, he found himself standing at the very top of the quarry right next to the ship and a very surprised Pyrrha, as a giant explosion went off inside the quarry.  Smoke and Grimm dust floated out of the depths, as Jacob tried to realize what had just happened.  Looking over, he finally got a good look at the person who saved his life, and as soon as he did, he started laughing.

            “Sage Pearson as I live and breathe!” Jacob said walking over and embracing his friend.  Sage smiling and returning the favor.  “What the heck are you doing here?”

            “I was sent here on a commission from the Atlas military to deal with that creature” Sage said as he put his swords back in their sheaths.  “It’s been tearing up nearby settlements and ambushing caravans for ages now.  I usually try to avoid this region if I can but hey, work is work I suppose.  And what about you?”

            “Well my cousin and I have been on this quest trying to find clues that my dad seemed to have left behind related to the Order, and we had run into one of their old bosses….Oh my gosh!  Pyrrha!” Jacob said realizing he was back on the surface and turned his attention to Pyrrha.  “Are you all right?  What happened to Aeris?”

            “We fought for a bit more,” Pyrrha said shaking off her surprise, “and then the ground started shaking like the world was about to split in half.  The town was starting to crumble into the quarry in full force.  I made my way back to the airship to make sure I had a way to get down there and get you out if I could while Aeris just laughed like she usually does and escaped with the flash drive.”

            “Blast.  And given her tone, she’ll be after the last one as well.”

            “How does she know where they’re hidden?  For all intents and purposes, your father had these hidden so only you could find them.”

            “Given his initial message back in Mistral, he had these hidden after he had been made a servant prisoner of the Order.  Some random Order soldier who owed my dad a favor was probably tasked with hiding them, and they survived the ensuing battles and eventually let slip what my father did.  And since the Order always knew where my family was living at any given time, they would know where to look on the onset.  So it’s a safe bet that Aeris is heading directly for the last place where I have lived that I haven’t checked yet.”

            “And where might that be?”

            “Aequo.  Where I first started to grow up.”

Author's Note

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