Descending from Ordinary

Chapter 10

It wasn't as long of a trip to the top of the mountain as Jacob had initially expected; they made it there in merely half an hour. By then it was fully night time, and nothing but the large, glistening stars flooding the vibrant purple and blue painted sky lit the tree-deprived, flat surface of the mountain. Moving into an area that was clear of a few trees. Jacob pulled his bag off his shoulders, setting it to the ground before walking to Ace.

"So, are we done for today?" Jacob asked, even though he was sure he knew the answer.

"Yeah," Ace nodded as the others began gathering around. "We'll pick back up first thing tomorrow. But for now, we need to set up camp and get firewood. I'll start with the wood, but I'll need help. You all can decide to do whatever you want."

Jace immediately raised his hand over his head. "Me! I'll go with you to get firewood!"

"I'm not taking the alien," Ace pointed to Jace. "You can keep him."

"Alien?" Cole looked at him, perplexed.

"Is he from another dimension too?" Mateus questioned.

"No. He's just really fucking weird. And, honestly, I don't even think he can explain why he does half the things he does."

Earning a laugh from the two royals, Jace gave a small playful pout, although obviously not truly caring what Ace had to say about him. Jacob grinned along and jokingly rested a hand on Jace's shoulder. It was amazing, Jacob thought, how Jason could completely brush off negative things and stay content with himself no matter what context. It was like he saw everything as a big joke and just laughed along. Jacob wished he could be like that.

"Okay," Cole shrugged. "I'll help you then."

"No," Ace crossed his arms. "I don't like you either. In fact, I don't really like any of you. Jacob's really the only one I can actually tolerate so far so I'll just take him."

Jace grinned. "If you wanted to be alone with Jacob you should've just said so in the first place~"

Jacob's chest suddenly heated at the thought—it was flattering, but he didn't really expect this guy to ever have actual friends. Jacob rolled his eyes playfully and pushed the thought aside.

"Jace, I swear to god—"

"Don't worry about it," Jacob laughed. "I'll go with you. No biggie."

Jace sighed jokingly. "Alright, Jakey. Just abandon me then, I'll hang out with my new best friends and set up the camp."

Jacob was a little surprised actually considered him a best friend already, but it made him somewhat happier. He was glad he could call someone as friendly and sweet as Jace his best friend.

Jacob played along with a laugh, putting his hand on his heart dramatically. "Ouch. I promise to return!"

Mateus and Cole smiled, but Ace rolled his eyes and grabbed Jacob's wrist, tugging him along. "Yeah, yeah, we already burned all our daylight. Now's really not the time."

Jacob followed after Ace, venturing deeper and deeper into the mix of tall trees that were dimly lit by the beautiful sky. After he'd let go of his wrist, Jacob began having trouble keeping up with him. Damn, he walked unusually fast for a man that showed zero energy in conversation and had no facial expression.

"Pick up any big sticks you see," he ordered.

Jacob obeyed the 'order' and grabbed as many broken off branches and twigs as he could as he continued walking. The only thing he could hear was the sound of light steps from him and Ace, along with the quiet chirps of crickets hidden in the distance. It reminded him of back home: the quiet walks behind his dorm, the night time breathers when he couldn't sleep—everything that soothed him when he needed it.

"So," Jacob broke the silence. "Do you think I can survive this trip?"

Ace took a little longer to respond than Jacob felt was necessary, which made it seem like he was debating on whether he should speak the truth or not. Long story short, the answer was probably a no.

"Depends," he shrugged. "Are you gonna be a precious cry-baby the whole time?"

His reply caught Jacob a little off guard, but he shook it off. He didn't expect that response but, it was Ace, what else should she have expected? Jacob picked up another stick. "I don't believe so...No."

"Then you should be fine. As long as you do what I say and stay out of the way when something attacks us."

Something attacking them? No matter how many times someone mentioned it, the thought of the assailing creatures didn't fail to quench his stomach.

"Yeah," Jacob sighed. "But...maybe you could teach me some pointers or something...? On how to fight and all. You know, just in case."

"We don't have time for that."

"What? Since when do we have a time limit?"

"We just need to get there without any distractions." He refused to look at Jacob face-to-face, keeping his gaze on each stick he grabbed. Picking up one last twig, he began walking back to the camp.

Jacob followed behind him with his arms full of sticks. "Since when is teaching someone how to defend themselves a distraction? I really don't get your logic."

Ace didn't say anything, which was starting to piss Jacob off. He was beginning to realize that Ace seemed to truly feel like he got to make all the decisions around there like he was...the leader or something. Like he could control everything everyone did and how they did it. Jacob, though, despised those kinds of people. He couldn't handle feeling small and against his own free will. He was a human being, not a puppet—and he wasn't about to let Ace treat him like one.

"Goddamn Ace!" Jacob called, frustrated that Ace wouldn't respond.

"My god, I should've left you back with the others."

Jacob furrowed his eyebrows and ran his way up to Ace's side so he could look at as much of his face as he could. "Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but yo—"

Ace stopped suddenly, turning his body to face Jacob. Jacob stopped along with him, straightening his back to appear taller and stronger.

"Who I am?" he snarled. "I'm the reason you're going to stay alive, Earthling. You should be thankful."

"I am," Jacob agreed. He wasn't the greatest at arguing. "But not for your shitty attitude and weird instinct to think you can control everything around you!"

"I'm the only one who knows shit around here."

"There's a royal guard, a trained prince and another mage on our team! How are you suddenly ten times better than all of that combined?!"

"You think that bastard Cole has been ten meters outside of that castle? The prince said it himself that he's never been anywhere either, so you don't need to know anything else to note that he's about as experienced as a rock. I'm the only one here that's legit, and I'm not trying to die because of a few idiots that don't know what the hell they're doing."

Jacob didn't want to admit it, but Ace kind of had a point. It wasn't enough to make Jacob drop everything and let him take control like he was some dictator, though. "Alright. Sure. Well, regardless, we're still doing this because of me, so you could at least give a little respect!"

He continued walking back to camp, totally disregarding what Jacob had to say. "We had a deal. I take you there safely, you get what you want and I get what I want. I'm not doing this for you." Ace paused.

"I'm doing this for me. Only me."