26

Jean and Jason regained consciousness in a dark place with a horrible smell. Jean looked around and let her eyes adjust to the darkness while Jason bent over and puked his heart out.
“We’re in the sewers.” She announced.
Jason wiped his mouth with his sleeve and replied, “What kind of psycho kidnaps people and chucks them into the sewers?”
“Jason, don’t be an idiot. New York is one of the busiest places in America. Do you really think nobody will notice two adults being dragged into the sewers?”
Jason nodded his understanding and asked, “So if we aren’t in New York, where are we?”
Jean didn’t answer his question but propelled forward with a speed Jason had never seen before. She ran about two meters before an invisible force threw her back about ten metres and she landed on the dirty floor with a sickening thud.
In a panic, Jason ran to her but she was already upright and wheezing by the time he got to her.
“Damn force shields.” She muttered.
“What force shields? What are you saying, Jean? Why are your eyes gold? Where are we? What’s going on?”
“Your little friend is just flowing with questions, isn’t he, Zemar?” bellowed a deep voice, “Or should I say ‘Jean’?”
Jason looked around frantically, searching for the owner of the voice; a voice that was smooth and calm but still managed to strike fear in the hearts of those who heard it.
“Don’t bother looking for him. Firgewan reveals himself only when he wishes to.”
The voice chuckled, “Smart girl. I can see your parents taught you well.”
“Don’t you mention my parents with your filthy mouth, Firgewan!” Jean snapped.
“Filthy?” Firgewan questioned with amusement in his soothing voice, “My mouth might be filthy, Zemar, but this same mouth commands thousands of forces.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. Forces you gain control over through brute force are not legitimate. You and I both know that.” Jean replied, just as calmly, “Show yourself, or I accept you for the coward I believe you to be.”
All of a sudden, the lulling voice became a harsh, menacing sound that grated in Jason’s ears. He looked over at Jean and she seemed to be alright with it. Her face was the epitome of cool and calm.
“How dare you refer to me in such an impudent manner?” hissed the voice.
In a blinding flash, the sewer they stood in was alight; torches burning bright at each side. Jason cursed and covered his eyes with his hands. By the time he was able to withstand the bright lights, he looked to his left and saw a tunnel that seemed not to end or curve. There were algae on the walls and the floor was filthy. It happened that the stench of the place originated from the stream of black water flowing in-between two pavements. He looked to his right and beheld the most beautiful man he had ever seen; and Jason was as straight as the Empire State Building. He had long, black hair and eyes to match. His facial bones looked like they had been arranged by Venus herself to make all women swoon at his feet. Jason was a full-blooded man and even he had to acknowledge Firgewan’s beauty. His olive skin had an other-worldly glow as it stretched taught over the widest chest and shoulders he had ever seen. The pair of shorts Firgewan wore did absolutely nothing in hiding his rippled abdominal muscles and his strong legs.
All the while Jason was gawking at the new arrival, Firgewan and Jean engaged in a stare-down, neither wanting to blink or back down for fear of accepting his (or her) loss. His head-turning face and physique had no effect on Jean, but his eyes were a different story. Eyes that were not from any world imaginable, his eyes were eyes that had seen what the mouth could not say. They were pitch black and held no emotion, whatsoever. The longer Jean stared into them, the more she feared falling into them and never being able to come up for air.
After what seemed like forever, she averted her gaze but noticed the smug smirk on Firgewan’s face. She spoke first;
“Do whatever you wish to with me, Firgewan, but let the human go. I don’t understand why you took him in the first place.”
“Oh, this is no ordinary human, my princess.”
“Don’t call me that!” Jean snapped. But Firgewan ignored her and continued speaking with a smile that mismatched the emptiness in his eyes.
“I will not tell you what he is but he is of good use to me. I sent someone to get him for me years ago but somehow, he managed to kill my messenger.”
Jean’s eyes open a quarter of a fraction in surprise. Firgewan did not notice her because his gaze was now trained on Jason. His expression was that of a beast in the wilderness eyeing his prey.
“You don’t know my joy when my Lucems gathered enough Garganum to bring you here from that ghastly Earth of a place and the object of my desires came along with you,” Firgewan continued, “it was like a ‘buy one get one free’ deal, like the humans say.”
At Firgewan’s words, something clicked in Jason’s head.
“Did you just say ‘brought here from Earth’?” Jason exclaimed, “You mean to tell me that we aren’t even on planet Earth???!!”
Jason looked hysterical; his eyes were dancing and his face was turning into an ugly shade of purple. Firgewan laughed a cool, collected laugh.
“I see you have a lot to tell your friend, Princess.” He said to Jean. Aiming his smile at Jason, he drawled, “Welcome to Erogon, Tile.”
Once Jean heard the reference Firgewan made to Jason, she had Firgewan up against the wall by the scruff of his neck faster than Jason could blink; all he heard was an excruciating thud on the dirty wall.
“What did you just call him?” she screamed in his face.
“You heard me, Princess.” Firgewan replied with his smile still in place.
“Don’t you sass me, Firgewan. The Tiledonians went into extinction centuries ago!”
“Well, somehow, this one lived.” Stated Firgewan. He looked down at Jeans hand firmly holding his neck to the wall. “And its been fun being against the wall like this but I’ll have to request for you to unhand me now.”
Jean hissed like a cobra in Firgewan’s face.
“I will not fight you, Princess,” he said and his smile deepened, “because that reminds me that I need to know about your powers.”
“Never!” Jean whispered menacingly.
All Jason heard was a chuckle before Jean was on the floor with a mighty knife at her neck. The knife looked elegant, yet, it managed to look like it could slice her head off with one move at the same time. Jason damn near soiled himself.
“Now tell me,” Firgewan bellowed, “which other powers do you have apart from the strength and speed?”
Jean laughed a maniacal laugh that swam in her golden eyes.
“Nothing.” She rasped.
Firgewan drew blood, trying to scare her but Jean didn’t budge. After moments of looking into her eyes, Firgewan rose and started walking away into the darkness.
Jason waited for him to get out of earshot before letting out the breath he was holding.
“Thank God he’s gone. That was so scary.” He breathed.
“Don’t give thanks yet,” Jean said as she wiped the blood from her neck, “he will be back. He's probably looking for the best of his torture tools to use on me. And you shouldn’t have waited for him to go before speaking. He can hear you anyway.”
The blood drained out of Jason's face, “What's going on, Jean? I'm hearing strange things and nothing makes sense. It looks like I’m the only person who doesn’t understand anything.”
“Calm down and stop your whining,” Jean snapped, “hopefully, I’ll be able to convince him to let you return to Earth and you can forget about all this.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Jason screamed, the veins in his forehead threatening to jump out of his face, “don’t tell me to calm down when a complete stranger just made reference to what no other living soul knows but me. If that’s not freaky, please tell me if that’s normal!”
She turned around to face him, a sudden interest sparking in her gold eyes, “What no other person knows?” she questioned.
It didn’t seem possible, but Jason’s already pale face paled even more. He moved his gaze away from Jean and shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
After two minutes of silence, she understood that he was not going to divulge any information to her any time soon. She tore her gaze away from him and stared at the direction in which Firgewan had disappeared. A moment later, he could be seen approaching from a distance but he was not alone; he was dragging another male, even bigger than him, across the dirty floor.
Finally, he was close enough for Jason to recognize who had been subjected to the torture of being nose-down in the awful sewer.
“JAMES?” he exclaimed. Pure shock was evident on his face.
James looked up. He was absolutely filthy; his hair was coated in sand and there was a nice, thick coat of grime on almost all visible parts of his body. His clothes were nothing to write home about; ripped and disheveled, it was a wonder how the clothes managed to cling to his clearly different body. Jason was quick to notice his difference in physique.
“I know I haven’t seen you in a while but there is no way you could have buffed up that quick.”
James ignored the outburst and settled his brown eyes on Jean who gave him a cold, hard stare. With her lips barely moving, she asked Firgewan:
“Why did you bring the insect here, Firgewan?”
She was expecting Firgewan to chuckle and give a smart reply, as was in his character, but he fixed her with a cool gaze instead.
“You're going to tell me about your other powers, Zemar.” He stated coolly, “And I don’t care how I'm going to get that information out of you.”
Jean scoffed. She knew that no matter how much Firgewan tortured her, or how much blood he drew from her body, she would never tell him what he wanted to know. Apparently, Firgewan knew this too because he didn’t reach for Jean as expected. However, he bent over and grabbed James by the scruff of his neck. With all his might, he hurled James at the wall. The wall enter sewer vibrated at the impact and James landed on the floor like a ragdoll.
Jason let out an unmanly yelp he would never admit to while Jean watched on, a calm expression on her face.
Jason stared at her, aghast, as James was flung to the other wall and this time, there was a sickening crunch. “Aren't you going to do anything?”
“No,” Jean replied coolly without taking her eyes off the scene unfolding in front of her. Jason damn near fainted when Firgewan impacted a punch right on James’ eye; Jason couldn’t tell if it was the right or left eye but that didn’t seem important to him at the point. What was important, was getting the monster off of James before he killed him.
Jason was about to throw himself between James and Firgewan when Jean stretched out an arm in front of his stomach, effectively knocking the air out of him. She eyed him coolly, but there was a fire burning in her eyes.
“Martyrdom is not as glorious as it seems. Don’t be an idiot. If you go in between them and Firgewan kills you, it won't be murder; it will be suicide.”
“But Jame-”
“James will not appreciate you dying for him.” She cut him off, “Trust me, he's fine.”
Jason was forced to stay put as James was brutally manhandled. After a while, Firgewan stopped and stole a look at his spectators. The look on Jean’s face nearly made him stumble; he had been expecting her to be horrified at watching her consort go through such terrible treatment. But her expression was so cool, he was sure her face would be cold if he touched it. Looking down at the object of his assault, he reached into the minuscule pocket at the back of his trousers and took out the equally minuscule blade he had kept there. With a creepy smile, he looked up at Jean.
“I wonder if you will prefer your escort with only one eye.” He mused.
When Jean still didn’t give any reaction, he grabbed James’ chin and raised his head up. With another smile at Jean, he raised the blade high into the air and aimed for James’ black eye. With a quick swipe, the blade came down.