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Unearthed Bounds

Jaxon was bewildered when the new male science teacher was impressed with Jaxon’s astute knowledge of science.  He inquired of him about other topics which furthered the teacher’s awareness of Jaxon’s intellect.  The teacher’s response may or may not make it easier on Jaxon for the remainder of the year.  He almost regretted changing classes, then again, it might be for the best to study another science.

Filing out for school, Jaxon made his way to the coach’s office to pass along the medical note from the emergency room attendee.  Not that Jax was really worried about their concerns over any damage, he had already planned on being dropped off downtown so that he could grab an early dinner at the soda shop before making his way to the library before they closed.  He’d already asked his grandfather to pick him up at the front of the library.  He provided an excuse that he wanted to make up some behind studies from his absent days.

One of his friends kindly dropped him off at the soda shop and teased him that since his accident, he’d turned more into a bookworm than before.  He asked what happened to his suave temperament.  Jaxon retorted back that chicks dug the smart guy look.  He wanted to get the smart down first before changing his look.  

Jaxon had ordered his meal to go so that he could sit under the shaded benches by the library.  He watched the people as they passed, some even going so far as to wave or cheer about his school’s victorious win.  He’d often wondered why his grandfather would sit and just watch people without really saying a word.  Now, he was taking after his elders; with Nessa briefing him on things to look for and study.  Watching various types of people mingle or shying away from crowds, he was able to distinguish the characteristics of their personality, introvert or extrovert.  Though some rarely reflected both types.

Once he was done, he tossed the bag into the trash receptacle near the entrance of the library.  He took the few steps leading to the double door entryway.  One door always seemed to remain locked.  Opening the unlocked one, he stepped into the foyer with announcement boards and new book posters were plastered on the walls.  As he wandered around, he could feel eyes watching his every move.  He didn’t pay them much attention, at least for the time being.

Not sure where to actually start his research, he remembered a key point that Nessa made, the Crusades, and about the time when she was around.  He headed to the research area that had a variety of encyclopedias from different book publishers and even a few select historical reference books.  He grabbed a couple of the books to start breaking down where he wanted to take his research.  He knew that this would be a daunting and time-consuming task, so he pulled out a notebook and pen to start taking notes.

Jaxon had a stack of books on the table he’d taken over several hours later.  His notebook was filling up quickly with details and information and books to reference.  He was learning quickly that the Crusades were religious adventures to instigate war to regain territory and obtain Christian artifacts and holy sites.

He had more questions now for Nessa than he did before.  What was her purpose?  Who was his predecessor and their purpose?  He’d started making a list of questions to ask her when he saw her next.  He looked out the window noticing that the sun was setting with the rose and purples highlighting the evening sky.  Another hour or so and the library would be closing, he’d have to wait outside for his grandfather.  

Looking at his notes, he had another book he wanted to take a look at and possibly check out to read at home.  Meandering about the religious section of the library next to the archives and microfiche  stations, which he had to go downstairs.  Looking throughout the texts that he had sprawled out on the floor, his mind was boggled with the load of information he was seeing.  He’d learned a few things about the earlier years in school, but very little in comparison to what actually happened from the religious and churches aspect that he was seeing.  His notebook was left upstairs on the table, which he’d found a lone corner table.  

A cool breeze from someone passing by caught Jaxon off guard.  He hadn’t heard anyone come down the creaky stairs.  Taking his eyes from off the page he’d been reading, he scanned the room trying to figure out who or what caused the breeze.  When he couldn’t figure it out, he went back to reading.  The chapter was about the various groups that were formed during the Crusades, one of those being the Knights Templar.  

A soft hum came from one of the isles of microfiche which paused his reading again.  He closed his eyes and focused on the hum.  It was not one he’d ever heard.  

    “Nessa?” he asked in his mind.  “Is that you?”

    “Of course, boyo,” she replied aloud.  “I told you I’d return.  Why’ve you been a frettin so?”

    Jaxon shook his head to clear his mind.  “How do you know?” he asked, confused.

    The voice lingered between the shelves.  “It’s part of the process, Jaxy, boy.  When I fed from you and let you taste of my own blood, my own power, it gave us a connection.  A bond that can only be broken a few ways, by death or.”

    She had strolled out of the isle and towards where he’d made a scattered mess of books around him.  She looked down at some of the pages he had open.  Her fingers trailing over some of the images, especially the cross.  She made a saddened noise.

    “Or?” he persisted.  He was curious and wanted to know more.  “You said you’d tell me more.  We’re here, nearly alone.  Please.”

    Her eyes moved slowly from the page up to Jaxon as she stared at him seemingly like hours.  “Jaxy, there is much to tell.  You’ll have time.  I can guarantee it.  If you work with me.”

    “Am I not?” he queried.

    She gave a sigh and a shrug.  “I cannot deny you are holding your own.  Yet, you feel a need to rush to know so much.  It’ll all come to you, in time.  When you become like me, you’ll realize time is, nothing.”

    “Like you?  What are you?”

    She blinked rapidly and gave a soft chuckle.  “I know you’re smarter than that Jaxy.  You know.”

    He closed his eyes and refocused to mindlink her.  “Vampire?”

    “Yes.” she said softly.  “You may speak, as you’ve said, we’re safe to talk.  I’ve made sure of that.”

    His brow furrowed at her comment and he tilted his head to the side.  “What did you do?”

    She held her hand up to him as if stopping him in his tracks.  “Nothing that would harm the other’s in this building.  Nothing that’s, bad, at least.”

    Reaching over, her touch felt chilled, but she took his wrist and flipped it over for him to see the time.  She then pointed to the clock hung high on the wall.  His wrist watch was slowly going, while the wall clock had seemed to stop.

    “You can stop time?” he asked.

    “Not exactly.  Because of our bond, everything we do together, is sped up.  The world around us, pauses momentarily.  We are creatures where time does not hinder our existence.  I’m close to 3000 years old, but I look as young as you.  We really do not age.  That’s why I do not wish to change you so soon.  You still need to grow, get bigger, mature.”

    She seemed a bit frustrated with finding the right words.  “I want you older so that you can fit in throughout the generations.  That you can mold and adapt without other’s realizing that they are growing older while you remain the same.  You’ll find moving around to different places helps to keep your identity safe.”

    He leaned his back against the filing cabinet behind him.  He motioned with his hands at the books, then to him.     

    “Then why me?” he begged.  “I don’t understand, Nessa.”

    Nessa sat down on the ground near him.  She took his hand and held onto it.  

    “Jaxy, I’ve said before, you resemble and act much like your ancestor that I fell in love with many moons ago.  I feel that because of what we went through and that we didn’t remain together, that our curse, has in a way altered the fate of our lineage.  You see, we may have fallen in love, I may have birthed his child, but we never married.  Avi was already married with children to Muriel.  He had already let his family down, but wanted to return to them.  Teo was the one who took my hand and married me, so I could keep my status.  My father was a king over our land.  My sister was set to marry and take the crown, but when I returned married and later the first male heir, Teo and I reigned the lands.”

    Jaxon listened as she told her story.  “So, you’re my ancestor, too?” he questioned.  

    She lowered her head shaking it.  “No, I wish you were.  You are one of his and Muriel’s children’s descendants.  Either way, I’ve kept track of his family through the years.  I wondered if another would come along like him.  So that I could save, unlike him.”

    Jaxon remained quiet as she spoke.

    “You are the only one to this date that favors him in both personality and looks.  I think you have the same heart and mind.  He was very smart, courageous.  You see, once we found out we’d been cursed he wrote to me but two times.  Once, was telling me of his curse, which matches mine.  The second, that Muriel had gone crazy when he’d turned her.  That he feared his life.  If he never wrote again, for me to assume his death at her hands.  We were learning about our cursed bodies as we went along.  We weren’t sure what to expect.  It was new, to us, at least.  We attempted to keep in touch, but as years turned into decades, and so forth, we created others like ourselves whether by choice or incident. “

    She shifted about on the floor as she uncrossed her legs.  

    “The curse was given to us during our travels.  We’d been requested for various reasons and abilities, to find the entrance to the Garden of Eden.  None of us that joined this quest, knew where it was.  Only the Church knew and had great one’s that retained this knowledge.  Our own expertise was used through the journey at different times.  My family was master archers and hunters.  Teo’s were great wanders and map makers.  They’d travel the various regions and document the people, the terrain.  Avi’s family were well known thieves, tricksters, tyrants, but he wanted away from that lifestyle and settled down being a blacksmith and farm hand.”

    She looked at the clock on his hand and sighed.  “When we were cursed, different things happened to the party.  When we changed, we scattered.  Some died as if given a poison, other’s withered and died over several days.  It was like their body was there, but their mind wasn’t.  Alaric was captured by the Church since he had detailed what we’d seen.  They interrogated him before he too changed.  He would often go from being human to a wolf-like creature.  He eventually gained control of his abilities and returned to our kingdom to tell us.  Teo, had to have gotten the least physical change, he started having nightmares.  Mostly about the quest, but about other things.  It was like he could tell what would happen the next day or so.  It haunted him and so he’d frequently leave.  We had our own children after I gave birth to Avi and my son.  I had heard he’d gotten other female’s pregnant, he was not happy.  I don’t know if it was the situation he’d put himself in marrying me or if the nightmares maddened him, like Muriel.”

    Nessa returned her attention down to the books before him.  “I wanted you to know the time that we lived so you’d understand me.  That you may understand how this curse will affect you and who you come across in your life and who you will love.  There are others that you will come across.  I cannot foresee who, but I do know.  You will meet them soon in your second life.  You will know, you’ll feel it.  The closeness to them.”

    “So, what you’re saying is that you are what you are because of a curse?  That I have a chance to be, like you?” he asked.  His mind pondering over everything she had said.  Some of what she’d talked about already and what he’d read gave him clarity on her life in those times.    

    “Yes,” she replied.  “We are cursed to be vampires, lycans, foretellers, or a shortened sickly life.  All because our questing group found and drank from a forbidden part of this world.  One that no one should have ever found, but we did.  We all regretted it.”

    Jaxon had noticed the time ticking ever so slowly.  What would have been a possible hour- long conversation, only a matter of seconds.  

    “I must go,” she said to him.  He looked at her sensing that she had more to say amid much disappointment, yet a lingering pang of hope for him and whomever else.

    “Is it just me?” he finally asked.  She’d stood up and was pressing out her dress with her hands.  She turned to him and looked blankly.  

    “No,” she said, as if understanding the question.  “I must show the others, but in time.  I’ll return.”

    She started back towards the stairs leading upstairs.  “I want you to fall in love with the right person.  You’ll know who she is when you see her.  Her beauty will be dark, deep, brooding, yet mysterious, tenderhearted, caring.  She’ll see right through you and it won’t phase her.  She’ll be hurt, don’t add to that pain, help her heal with your own love.”

    With that, she was gone.  Jaxon stood to stop her, but knew that there was nothing he could do now to stop her.  She was beyond his reach, even with training.  He looked down at the book she’d traced her finger over.  It was of a castle in the northern lands and then of a cross on a stake.  He picked up the books and put them on a nearby table, closing and stacking them.  He was heading up the stairs as the librarian made her rounds telling other patrons they would be closing soon.  

    Making his way to his table, there was a different book on the table than what he’d originally started with.  It was the Bible and opened to the description of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge and Wisdom, and the two rivers splitting.  He’d notated that quickly before closing everything and heading outside.  He wanted to be waiting for his grandfather and hoped the older man hadn’t beaten him there first.