Twilight Bridge: Immersion (Volume 1)

Chapter 18: Homecoming Redux

Eugene and Jaden were walking with Aksel Dolph, the son of the Candy-Man, the most prominent Anthem smuggler in Maplewood. Jaden had made up his mind to aid Aksel in his twisted scheme that would end up with his father in jail.
After walking few meter in a straight dim underground pathway, the three reached a nicely carved wooden door.
"Alright," Aksel opened the door welcoming both boys in. "My father is probably gonna catch up with in a few."
Both Eugene and Jaden eyes were looking in every direction trying to grasp this underground livingroom-like decorations. Eugene was staring at all the different heads of diverse set of creatures from across the realm.
"...Is that a goblin's head?..." he wondered.
"Yup," Aksel said. "That's a legit goblin."
"But how—" Eugene stuttered.
"My dad was an explorer back in the days." Aksel explained. "He and his crew used to venture through 'impossible to get to' places."
Jaden glimpsed a photo framed on the wall as he listened to Aksel. Then, he picked it off the wall.
—— I guess, those were supposed to be his 'crew', he looked at the faces that were on the picture with him.

"Oh, there's a pic of them!" Aksel invited Eugene to take a glimpse.
"So, that's Candy— ehh, your father?" Eugene stuttered.
"Aren't these people familiar?.." Jaden looked at Eugene who focused his energy on trying to remember.
"I— I think that guy is Kym's father.." Eugene muttered. "This one might be... Julia's father, too!"
"Not far from the truth that they were close back then.." Jaden smiled.
"Yeah, that's right!" Aksel added. "Did you know that lady on the left is Mayor Jaros?!" Aksel said.
"The Mayor?!" Jaden exclaimed. "Was she an explorer too?!"
"I think all of them are." Eugene replied.
These 7 people were all going on expeditions and what not, Jaden theorized. If the guy in middle is Aksel's father, the two on the right were Kym and Julia's father, and then there're four young women on the left. The furthest one being Mayor Jaros— wait a minute..
"The one next to my Pops is Miss. Crumble." Aksel said.
"Oh, YEAH!" Eugene was surprised. "Didn't expect that at all! And that one is probably Julia's mom.."
Aksel glimpsed Jaden cracking a slight smile. "Were you able to understand it now?" he asked.
"It's crystal clear.." Jaden replied. "Death Gun is after this expedition team. He's been hunting them one after the other."
"That's right!" Eugene understood it as well. "But who's that last woman?"
"She died several years before they got disbanded." Aksel said.
Jaden wanted to ask even more questions, but he wasn't able to, a tall man with a weird large hat and a raincoat came into the room.
"Oh," he exclaimed. "I see you all are already here!"
"Uh—Dad, you're here!" Aksel said.
"So, these two are your friends that you told me about!" Aksel's father gestured to both boys to have a seat. "Get yourselves comfortable."
Jaden Eugene, and Aksel sat with him. It seemed to Jaden that the Candy-Man had already planed this meeting in advance.
He looks truely like a confident man with the a plan, Jaden thought to himself.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Eugene started. "We go to the same school as Aksel. We even took the lacrosse team tryouts together!"
"My boy here have told me all that is important.." he replied in disinterest. "My birth name is Theadore Dolph. I'm the current sole investor of Anthem on this planetoid."
"How did you end up in this field?" Jaden asked. "We just learned you were an explorer."
"As you may know, boy, one thing leads to another." Mr. Dolph explained. "As explorers, me and my folks have ventured where nobody else could have. We've seen breathtaking things, mind-opening things, scary things, tragic things even."
"…tragic things…" Eugene muttered.
—— Could this be why they've split?, he was wondering.

"So, you've discovered Anthem through your travels! You brought it with you from other planetoids..?" Jaden said.
"Brought it?!" the Candy-Man, Mr. Dolph laughed. "We were the ones who produced it from materials we gathered from untapped dungeons."

Okay! This started to get enticing!, Jaden was telling himself. According to the Hunters's Guid, most of the material found in dungeons were inert, and usually used for making armors of sometimes simple weapons..