Act Two: Some Assembly Required Chapter One: Cover More Ground

In a troubled land in need, this world was lucky so long ago to have six heroes such as these: Gideon the fighter, by his sword, all combatants cower; Mary the mage, whose power has no match; Dovin the rogue, whose mastery of destruction is used for the benefit of the forces of good; Ellawin the engineer, whose genius will spark an era of invention and innovation; the leader of the Order of the Olive Branch, Auteur the zoologist and explorer of worlds, his resecure and discoveries are harnessed for the betterment of the world; and last member Ick the alchemist, whose extensive knowledge of this lost science is unparalleled to any other living or dead. With their combined talents, these six heroes, six friends, faced their greatest foe yet, the Minacious Dragon—the scourge of Ecplicvo a monster so terrible that Mages and Scorces had to seal it in that realm to prevent it from consuming every plane of life. The battle raged fiercely, but the Order of the Olive Branch emerged victorious, ensuring peace throughout the lands would reign forever, sealing their six fates in the books of history as the greatest heroes and adventurers to live.

The room stands still as the gravity of what they discovered sank in. They felt like they were dreaming and would wake up any moment; they might have been awake, but they were in a nightmare.

“Holy arcane,” Sid exclaimed, breaking the silence.

“How is this even possible?” Morning-Glory grabbed the book and started examining it, “this doesn’t make any sense. How could there be another order member? Why-”

“Why does no one know about it?” King finished for her, glaring at the painting. Ick was younger with shorter hair and in light brown robes; he also looked less homeless. He was standing side by side with the rest of the Order.

“Some rumors say there were six members, but there was never any evidence for it,” Jackson states. “It’s almost a Mandela Effect or more like a conspiracy theory. It would make sense with the Order’s symbol.”

Lizzy looked back at him, asking, “Why’s that?”

“One gem represents one order member, one for each member.”

“Yeah,” King turns back as well.

“So why are there six gems in the symbol?”

“I always assumed that the sixth was to represent them as a whole,” Lizzy trailed.

“That’s why Ick had a grudge against Gideon.” Morning-Glory adds, putting the book back, “They cut him out of the story.”

“They lied to the world,” Sid says, looking around.

“We need to focus on the problem at hand.” Lizzy took a deep breath. “That monster is still out there. Ruby is on her way here. We need to find the Order of the Olive Branch.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and continued searching the library. Lizzy found a staircase that seemed to lead outside. All of them climb it with a cushion, stopping on the roof:

A map of the world inside a protective case covering the wall, a pedestal with a round frame sits virtually on top in the middle, and behind that, a mechanism with what looks like a spotlight with six evenly spaced levers. Morning-Glory and Sid examine the machine; King looks at the map; Jackson leans against the wall, reading a book he found in the library; Lizzy scans the horizon, trying to see if anything is coming, while Chris runs around the area.

“Wow,” Morning-Glory pokes her head out from under the machine.

“What is it, Morn,” King replies, looking away from the map.

“This is the best engineering I’ve ever seen, to activate it needs some specific input.”

“You got all that for looking at it for a little bit,” Jackson asks looking up from his books.

“Not just that but it is also pulsing with arcane,” Sid replies.

“Machines made with magic are hard to make and the margin of error is so slim that most don't even try to make something like that,” Morning-Glory explains, “But with this tech and arcane are interconnected.”

Sid nodded, “Morn, and I think it is some kind of locator. We also have some idea of what the input is. " Turning to Lizzy, everyone could guess what she meant.

Lizzy takes out the amulet and places it into the frame. Everyone waits for a second, but nothing happens. Turning to the six bars, everyone takes one.

“Pull at the same time,” Lizzy says, grabbing her lever. “On three-”

“One,” King says.

“Two,” Morning-Glory responds.

“Three,” Jackson says as everyone pulls a crank.

With loud creaks the shafts move into place, the sounds of gears and pistons erupt out, the spotlight turns on then light contracts hitting the center of the amulet where three different colored lights emerge, hitting the map, wondering it, and then resting in places around it.

“Magic’s name,” Sid exclaims. “It is a tracking enchantment.”

“Tracking what now?” King asks, walking over to the map.

“Valenel silk, King you are dense. It’s a spell that tracks!” Sid exclaims in frustration

Morning-Glory pipes up, “I guess that these two lights-” she points to the red and purple lights that fell right next to each other, “are Ellawin and Mary in Eausportly.”

King points to the green light, “That must make this Dovin in Doreva.”

“What about the others?” Chris asks, raising her hand.

“Gideon said Auteur was missing,” Lizzy explains.

“Okay, that will make this more complicated. Right now, we have two locations,” Jackson starts. I hate to say this, but we need to split up and cover more ground faster.”

“Okay, who should go-” Morning-Glory begins.

King sighs, “Me and Jackson should go to Doreva well Morn and Liz head to Eausportly, Sid and Chris should stay here and hold down the fort.”

“Hold up what,” Lizzy stammers out.

“I don’t like the idea of needing spiky hair over here, but Doreva is the criminal capital of the world. The two of us are tall, strong dudes. People there hopefully won’t mess with us. Plus both of your skills are more suited to whatever happens in Eausportly. Ruby is coming here, someone should wait here for her, aka Sid and little C.”

“Dang, you thought that through,” Jackson says, shocked. And you are right: If any of us are going to a place nicknamed Arson Alley, it should be us.”

“But I want to go on an adventure,” Chris stomped her foot

“Same I want to the city of mages with you guys,” Sid agrees.

“This isn’t a game,” Lizzy takes a knee leveling with Chris, “The world is in danger, we need you two to stay put, we’ll be right back.”

Morning-Glory nods, “And King is right, wow that sounds weird.”

“Hey!”

“We need someone to stay back and wait for Ruby.”

“Fine,” Sid sighs, “While you guys are gone I’ll practice some more spells.”

Chris crosses her arms and makes a pouting face, “This isn’t fair.”

“Look, I’ll bring back something cool for you from Doreva.” King rustles her hair. Chris continues to pout but lets up a bit.

“It's settled then,” Lizzy nods, “We should leave ASAP, gather some more supplies you may need. We leave in thirty.”

They head back downstairs and start scrounging for supplies: Morning-Glory restocks her arrows, Jackson finds an old battle-worn sword and shield, and Sid starts to make a stack of books on magic. Lizzy looked at the painting of the Order again, something felt off, besides Ick being there, she could not place it. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sounds of a bookcase falling.

Running over to see what happens and finding King lying next to the case. The others join them.

“King, what did you do?” Morning-Glory asks, helping him up.

“I am fine, thanks,” he replies sarcastically. I was trying to get this when the bookcase attempted to kill me.” He holds another amulet. Lizzy pulls out the other; now, the purple, red, and green gems glow. The one King holds does the same.

“My guess is that one of the members left it here,” King starts, “I figured that each expedition group needs one to find the Order.”

“Nice call,” Jackson says. “We should get going.”

Everyone nods, and the six head toward the portal. They arrive at the station, exchanging hugs and goodbyes before Sid and Chris return through the portal. After finding the correct tracks, King puts his arm out in front of him with his hand out flat.

“No,” Morning-Glory says flatly.

“Come on, Morn, you know you want to,” King smirks.

“Nope. I said last time was the last time.”

“What is happening?” Jackson asks with a look of pure concern.

“King wants to do our lucky handshake, Morning-Glory finds it childish so she is refusing,” Lizzy explains.

“Well then,” he replies, “Just do the handshake at this point we could use some luck.”

“See even Jackson agrees,” King smirks.

“Fine,” Morning-Glory places her hand over King’s, and Lizzy joins. Each moves their hands out then back in fists taping, and then they stack them on top of each other up and back down again. Each of them pulls their hand back out crossing their arms then grabbing the hands of the other two. Pulling the others' arms in and then pushing them back out.

“I’m going to stop asking,” Jackson states, hopping into the front cart.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” King hopes into the end cart, leaving a cart in between him and Jackson. He turns to Lizzy and Morning-Glory, “Say hi to David for me.” Then he pulls the lever sending the two forward. Lizzy and Morning-Glory hop in their carts and then head off.