The Tale of Mythia

Chapter 22: The Lady of the Candle

"Um...where are Zane and Caroline?" Jack asked, noticing that the elderly woman was giving off a menacing aura. Jack could even see purple kanji hovering around her.

"The hacker and weather sorceress are looking around with the honey Badger, trying to see where your assailant went." The elderly woman's voice was stern yet caring, but Jack was still intimidated. "So, your task is to deliver the candle to the Lady of the Candle...were you the one Herakles handed the box to?"

"Yes???" Jack answered the woman, who began examining him, as though she was mentally testing Jack. "Please don't murder me, I have one leg. Please have pity on my poor, unfortunate soul."

"...Kid, I talk to Herakles on a regular basis to inform him of important events happening in Cuauhti, and he told me about a student who has almost unlimited potential and could possibly use what tarot cards remained." Maria pulled out a black briefcase and opened it to reveal 19 tarot cards, with the missing ones being the Emperor, the Empress, and the Fool. "That's assuming the Lady of the Candle will allow you to use their power."

"Okay, Herakles has been dumping a bunch of artifacts into my lap for no reason, almost all of which I haven't even used in a fight, so why is everyone trying to give me shit?" Jack sighed before squeezing his brow. "Like what the hell is going on?"

"Not surprising, Herakles hasn't told you about this, but there's something." Eddy looked up at the stained glass. "Nine years ago, when the event of 12/12/12 occurred, an event I'm sure you remember-"

"I can't remember anything, I have amnesia." Jack pointed at his head. "It's a long story, but I can't remember anything that didn't happen a month ago."

"Well that certainly explains it." Eddy kept his eyes glued to the ceiling. "Herakles told us that before the incident, you would have easily been in the top ten students at the whole school."

"Thank you for reminding me of what I could have been."

"Correction, we're informing you of what you could still become." Maria corrected. "You see, one of your class skills as an archeologist is the 'Power of Ancients', which allows you to learn skills that are on the brink of being forgotten by the world, or have existed for a certain timeframe."

"Dope, so why did you all want to talk to me?" Jack asked the elderly duo, and Maria simply glared at him.

"Like I said, there's a massive threat, but we can't locate it." Maria crossed her arms. "Herakles came up with a plan. He would raise the greatest generation of warriors the world has ever seen while the rest of us would look for the threat. Problem is, Herakles is stretched thin, he's trying to make all Thirty of you into the best Guardians possible, and that's not even mentioning the squads of guardians he's in charge of, the faculty, and even the other students. Most of those people aren't even aware of the coming threat."

"It feels like I'm the only person in my class who's aware of all this." Jack recalled this 'threat' that he thought was connected to Hero in some way.

"Oh you're not the only person, there are two others that possibly know about this, the one who walked around shirtless and one that gives off the vibe of an emo kid." Eddy nonchalantly told Jack that Matt and Angelo could possibly knew this threat. "Don't focus on them, only focus on becoming stronger, and using every resource you can. Everyone else in your class is doing the same to reach their limit, and surpass it."

"So you're offering me these tarot cards because you're scared of something?" Jack asked the two elders.

"That, and because no one else is gonna be able to use them, so we might as well give them to you so the Lady of the Candle can imbue them with power once more."