Chapter 10: Tale 1, Ch 9: The Ambassador Returns

The white flash went away, and Jasper saw something completely different. It was night, and a thunderous storm raged overhead. Jasper shivered with the biting cold and turned about, trying to see something. Everything was dark, and he felt a crunching under his feet. Suddenly, lightning broke overhead. In the thunderous clap of light, Jasper saw a mangled and burnt body lying hunched over in pain in front of him. Jasper jumped back with a yelp and waved his weapons around, trying to find an attacker.

But he could sense that there was nothing to be afraid of, not anymore. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he could see bodies sprayed all over the hilly, burnt terrain. The rainwater flowed darkly, mud mixed with blood and ash. Twisted metal objects of great size lay scattered all around. Some were burning. Some resembled their original shapes, but had men lying bloodily on top of and inside them. The giant metal beasts gave a wholly evil feel to the place. The only sign of life came from a far off cart, powered by a small animal.

The cart looked like a salvaged piece of one of the metal beasts, with something that looked like Firefly attached to it. In the front, a man directed it. In the back, bodies were being tossed on, along with bits that the scavenging men around it found appealing. The cart meandered toward a huge pile of rubble that emitted a sense of death and despair. Jasper could feel that this had once been a great city. And now, this death, what Jasper couldn’t see beyond senseless killing, had ended its greatness.

Jasper collapsed to the ground. He heaved, trying not to throw up, and fought with all his power to leave this place. He had to be gone, to be rid of such despair! And the glorious light embraced him.

When the light cleared, he was staring once more at green grass. Jasper smiled and felt the ground, thanking it for being so pure. As he did, a trickle of blood flowed into his vision.

Jasper looked up as a man wearing metal and holding a weapon like Gralin’s fell dead in front of him, his empty eyes staring at nothing. Jasper fell back and looked around. He was in the middle of a gigantic melee!

Men wearing suits of metal and waving huge weapons killed each other all around him. Jasper could feel through the crown that they were on two sides, and he saw their flags, colors waving in a light breeze. One side wore blue, the other green. A man to his right had his arm cut off and then his head smashed in by a man with a large hammer. Two men on his left, green cloaks over their metallic clothing, fell when arrows pierced their chests. And in front of him, the one who’d stuck a blade in the body Jasper had first seen, rushed toward the whimpering boy waving his long blade.

Jasper growled, pushing back his fear. The death, the uncaring destruction he could foresee as the after-effects of such melees, put him in a crazed rage. “Enough!” Jasper cried, and rose to his feet. He caught the blow from the blade with the dagger, slicing it through as if the metal were wax, and blasted the man with a controlled and dim crimson light.

The man’s eyes went wide with shock, and he fell on top of the man he’d killed, unconscious, his victim’s blood soaking into his blue uniform.

“I have been dragged around…” Jasper said as he blocked another strike from a blue-uniformed man who’d seen his friend go down. Jasper whirled a wave of golden energy at both sides of the melee, blue and green colors falling back with the shockwave. “Chased by people I don’t know…” Arrows flew at him. He opened his mind and made a shield to block the arrows. “Seen and felt the death and sorrow that fighting causes.” A ring formed around him as men tried to attack him, only to bounce uselessly against his shield. “No more! Stop fighting or I’ll force you to see how foolish you are!”

Jasper blasted crimson energy through the dagger in a wide circle around him. Men fell in droves as the light passed through the lines. Green and blue collapsed on top of each other, and Jasper hoped he wasn’t killing them, that he had control enough to simply stun. The crown enabled him to see that no one was killed, and the golden blade kept him filled with bounds of energy.

Men attacked and fell, fell and attacked. Soon the whole of both armies sought only to kill Jasper. But no one could come near him, and any who tried was met with a red beam. Within a few moments, Jasper realized no one was fighting any more.

As he shouted and blasted a beam of energy at one last attacker, Jasper stared into the face of two remaining men, their long blades frozen next to each other. Both wore golden crowns on their heads, but possessed no power of the Prophets. Jasper, realizing everyone was staring at him, stopped attacking people and smiled his best smile of innocence.

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“Hi,” Jasper said to the men with the crowns.

They paused, jaws locked open.

“Okay, look. Sorry I did this but I’ve been through way too much today,” Jasper said. He didn’t care if he looked silly, or if he had no idea what he was saying. “You two are fighting. Stop. You don’t have to fight.” Jasper walked over to the startled leaders. “You can work things out together. I know that when someone tries to kill you it’s instincts to want to kill them. But that’s not right.”

The two men blinked as the confusion wore off and Jasper felt their intrigue grow.

“We’re people, and we need to think about how what we do affects the future, and how if affects other people,” Jasper said.

He was very proud of what he was saying. He was thinking clearly, not reacting to the threatening glares some of the men around him gave him, and wondered if the crown was helping make his improvised speech sound better.

“Okay, well, so you’re not fighting anymore. That’s good. Just… put those away. Go on, put them away,” Jasper said.

The two crowned men paused, looked at each other, and dropped their blades.

“Good. Now, um, I’m going to go now. Try to, um, not fight any more okay? Just be like Sevens. They’re peaceful,” Jasper said.

“Sevens?” the crowned man in green asked, timidly trying to speak to the boy who’d single-handedly battled two armies.

“Oh, yeah. They’re good people. And they don’t fight each other so they’re really happy. I guess someone’s going to come by and help, um, clean things up a bit here alright? I’ll ask someone from Sevens to do that.” Jasper tried to share a convincing smile. “Okay, I’m tired. So I’m going to go home now.” Jasper closed his eyes, and concentrated.

“Wait!” the other crowned man called out.

Jasper sighed, hoping he wasn’t in trouble.

“What?” he asked.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

“I’m Jasper,” Jasper replied with an honest smile. Then he realized that it would be best to make these people happy. They must be pretty upset about things, why else would they fight, so he needed to make sure that the Prophets could back and helped fix whatever problems they were having. After all, that’s what Nin said their goal was, right? “I’m a Sevens Prophet. Look for the Sevens Prophets. They’ll be here soon.”

Jasper smiled.

The leaders looked at each other, relaxed, and looked at Jasper. The first leader smiled briefly and said, “Okay.”

Jasper smiled back, and he realized what he’d done. These people were killing each other. They were spilling each other’s blood and would end up just like the stormy world Jasper had just seen. That is, till Jasper came and stopped them.

He knew what he had to do. A flash of light came and Jasper appeared in the middle of The Pinnacle once again.

Nin stood amidst a group of now gaping Prophets. They froze when they saw Jasper holding the three objects that granted them their power. Some, including Gorn and Chrisholm, looked tempted to attack. But Jasper held the weapons in a non-threatening way. He smiled calmly, and stepped toward the podium where the objects had been before.

“Sorry about taking these,” Jasper said as kindly as possible. One by one, he gently placed the crown, the blade, and the dagger back in place. They each resumed their mid-air positions.

Jasper stepped back and opened his palms, trying to show as much sorrow as possible. In the brief pause, Jasper thought he heard Chrisholm’s light chuckle. He looked up and saw several faces glaring at the Red Prophet. Nin stared at the three objects, relief painted on her face.

Kay waited patiently as well, standing alongside many others, to hear what Jasper had to say for himself.

Jasper smiled as innocently as possible, and confidently explained in the most apologetic way, “Here’s the thing…”

Years later, Kay teleported Jasper to the planet Soul. It wasn’t the first time he’d been to a new planet by himself. But it was the first time he’d arrived in the middle of a king’s court. He was in a high-ceilinged chamber with green and black pillars holding up a white roof. The wooden floor led to a throne where a surprised king stood and pointed at Jasper.

“Seize the intruder!” the king shouted.

Immediately, men with swords and thick armor charged Jasper. Jasper grinned and pulled out his knife, the edges glowing a deep red and its simple, blue handle firmly in his grasp. He fired a stunning blast at the first armored man. The guard fell to the floor with a clatter of metal. With lightning-fast skill, Jasper blasted the other guards as they vainly tried to attack him. After a few seconds, it was just him, the king, and a few surprised advisors huddled behind the throne.

“Greetings from Sevens!” Jasper said. That was the line he always used for introductions.

“What do you want that you’ve killed my men to reach me?” the king demanded, standing back, frightened.

“Please, King,” Jasper said, and went to one knee, “I won’t hurt you. Your men will live. Don’t worry, I’m only here to speak.”

The king gulped as Jasper made sure he was listening.

“You know that war you were thinking about starting with the Gregorn?” Jasper asked.

The king nodded in careful recognition.

Jasper smiled at him and said, “Let me tell you about the Sevens Prophets, and peace.”