Uncontrolled: Season Two - Nick Venom (acx book reading txt) 📗

Episode One "Marked Grave"

Samantha died on spot. Alice’s healing skill wasn’t enough to revive Samantha. Zero had managed to slay her while everybody’s guard was lowered. A puddle of blood formed around her, drenching her in the fluids. Jake watched with widened eyes as her breath left her. Her heartbeat gave up moments later. Her body began shutting down, shortly later. Every telltale sign of death.

Zero, the remaining Satan Rider, was revived for a fleeting moment. His reawakening drained the last bits of his lifeforce. He soon collapsed after striking Samantha; his body freezing over by the time they touched it. They disgraced his body, filling it with cuts and gashes. They were frustrated. 

After taking their anger out on Zero, they dug a grave. Crow built a crude casket, leaving in it the grave. Jake then carefully carried Samantha to the grave, holding her princess-style. He lowered her in as tears began to fall on her. Jake, at this point, was balling his eyes out. He attempted to stop the floodgates but to no avail. They wouldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried. 

Crow and Yang closed the casket and began shoveling dirt into it. They filled the grave quickly. 

Once the grave was full, they took a step back as Jake put the finishing touches. He made a crude grave sign with her name on it. He stuck it in the ground, stepping back to look at the sight. In front of him was the grave sign reading, “Samantha Bright, friend, and family”. Crow and the others closed their eyes, bringing their palms together like they were praying, and whispered their apologies to the wind. It carried their words to Jake who took in the apologies from his comrades, ushering one of his own to Samantha.

“Next time I see you, I will be strong, tough, and as kind as you. Thank you for all of the help you’ve given me.” Jake muttered, kneeling in the dirt. “We will meet again.”

 

After the funeral, Jake decided where he would go. He needed to visit his grandparents, the people Samantha wanted to bring him to. It was her objective to get him there and he wanted to fulfill it. 

Crow, the leader of the party, agreed to take Jake to Quells, the hometown of his grandparents. The small country town was on the outskirts of the Atraciral kingdom, a large kingdom led by the Atraciral royal family and taking up fifty percent of the available land. It was the largest kingdom with the Warbringer being second at thirty-seven percent. The remaining thirteen percent was shared by the remaining smaller kingdoms.

However, Crow agreed with a condition. He brought up a point that was submerged up till this point. Crow, Alice, and Yang were all a part of an adventurers’ party. They made up the rank D three-person team Dirite. They were adventurers; which was a profession characterized as free and full of dangers. Indeed, both points applied to them. They risk death at the hands of beasts like the Satan Riders while also earning their freedom through the rewards for the quests. Most adventurers hated being pinned down to one location, often breaking away. 

Crow wanted to part ways with Jake at Quells. Jake understood why. He knew that adventurers wanted to be free, something that Samantha told him before they met with Crow and his Divine party. 

“Never trust adventurers,” Samantha warned him. “They’ll use you for everything your worth before discarding you like trash.” 

Jake nodded his head, listening to her words. 

“Adventurers are pieces of scum that like to fight and drink alcohol. Don’t get with them or they’ll force you to drink barrels of it.” She glanced away, focused on something along their path. It was a flyer advertising a quest to rid the world of Satan Riders. Samantha tore the flyer off the fence it was on and skimmed through it. “Anybody with any rank can take this quest. This quest isn’t being given out by the adventurers’ guild, but locals around the Satan Riders’ headquarters. The rewards are three gold coins. Five people, at most, are necessary.” 

“Satan Riders?” Jake questioned. 

Samantha turned around and crouched down to meet his eyes. She stared right at him in his eyes. “We’re going to take this quiz for the money. It needs five people, so we’ll be meeting three strangers. Remember, never speak of your skills and mana pool. You go in as a normal kid wielding a dagger and nothing else.” She told him.

“I understand,” 

“Good, let’s go meet them. But remember that, in the end, they are adventurers. They are freedom-loving and unrestrictive. Some go and get appointed as knights to nobles while others live lavish lives by challenging dungeons. In the end, however, they are all scum.” She remarked. Jake nodded, following Samantha towards the meeting point, a merchant’s store known as Safe Harbor’s Shop. 

 

They began their adventure to Quells, Crow manning the carriage’s reins. Alice and Yang sat in the back, on the opposite side of Jake. The atmosphere surrounding them was sorrowful and melancholic. The sadness of Samantha’s death and the parting of ways was overwhelming. 

Alice tried breaking the tension but, unlike last time, she couldn’t do so. She was overwhelmed with extreme feelings and couldn’t shake them off.

Yang remained lost in his thoughts, searching for an appropriate answer. He stared up at the sky, through a small hole in the carriage’s roof. His thoughts rambled off, soon coming to a topic he would enjoy skipping. His wife flooded his thoughts. The memories of her ravaged his brain. “When will I get to meet you again, honey?” He asked the sliver of the sky he could see. He expected an answer.

Jake stared at the grave from the carriage, remarking in the bitter look that the once joyous luscious grass now gave him. Everything was flipped on its head. 

They left behind the Satan Riders’ headquarters and Samantha’s marked grave. They rolled away from it; all four of them glancing back at it. The grave’s sign glittered in the diminishing sunlight. The memories they had of Samantha lived with them while her body remained in the ground.

Samantha Bright, friend, and family. 

 

TBC…

Episode Two "Quells"

They arrived at Quells, rolling up to Jake’s grandparents’ house. The house was in the middle of a three-acre farm. The farm held a small chicken coop, a medium-sized stable, and a small barn at the corner of the farm. It was in a rather remote part of the already remote town. 

They approached the house, a two-story brick house. As they did so, two wolves popped out of the front door, gnashing their teeth and growling at them. The owner of the wolves, a frail pale woman appeared moments later. She was elderly, reaching her late seventies.

She walked out of the house, wielding a broom, and ordered the wolves to step down. She brought her eyes up, staring at the strangers on her property. She wore a straw hat with a wide brim, raising it into the air as she looked up at the strangers. “Who are you? What do you want?” She asked them with a bitter tone. 

Crow was behind Jake, pushing him forward. He glanced over his shoulder at Crow, who nodded his head and motioned for him to talk. Jake nodded back, turning around. He took a deep breath in before glancing up at the elderly woman’s eyes. “My name is Jake, I was told by Sa-Sa-Samantha Bright to come here. This house would belong to my grandparents.” He bowed his head to her. 

The elderly woman dropped the broom, the wood colliding with the cobblestone pathway. She dropped to her knees, her eyes tearing up. “You are Jake? Jake Hollen? Son of Melina Hollen?” She asked, her lips quivering. 

Jake nodded. “Melina was my mother, but she… passed away two years ago.” He informed her. The woman nodded, trying to stifle her tears to no avail. The floodgates were broken through.

She motioned for him to come closer. He glanced at Crow and the others who nodded their heads at him. He nodded back, going closer to the woman. He hugged her as she broke down, speaking unintelligibly. 

Two men dashed to the front door, watching the woman in tears. One of the men unsheathed a sword, pointing it at Crow and the others. The other man attended to the woman, brushing Jake off. The man took her inside while the first man watched them. 

“Who are you? You ain’t from around these parts!” The man shouted. He then glanced down at Jake. “What did you do to my wife?” 

“I-I-I did nothing.”

“Nothing? That ain’t look like nothing?” He took a few steps back, preparing to slam the door shut. “We ain’t got the money today! We’ll give it to you tomorrow.” He then went to slam the door when the woman stopped him. She whispered the details of the situation into his head. 

Now knowing, he opened the door and approached Jake. With open arms, he hugged Jake tightly, nearly squashing him in the process. “Why didn’t you say you were my grandson?” He asked. The stern look that the man was giving the others was swiftly replaced by a heartwarming smile. The man looked to be ecstatic to reconnect with his grandson. 

He let Jake go and stood up. He motioned for Jake and the others to follow him inside. Jake nodded, following him in. He glanced over his shoulder at the others. He noticed that they hadn't moved a muscle. They remain where they were. 

Jake’s grandfather turned around and noticed them. “Not coming in?” He asked them.

“This is where we’re parting. Our task was to get him here, anything past that is non-negotiable.” Crow declared. “Goodbye, Jake.” He then turned around and got into the driver’s spot, handling the reins. Yang nodded his head at Jake before jumping into the carriage. Alice lingered for a few more seconds, staring at Jake, before getting into the carriage. With one whip of the reins, they departed, leaving Jake in Quells by himself. He watched the carriage slowly escape his sight. He lingered on the space where the carriage was moments ago before turning away. A chapter had ended, now throwing Jake and the others in different paths. They now had different futures. 

 

Jake followed his grandfather into the dining room, sitting down at the table. The table was a circular wooden table with six chairs thrust into it. Jake and his grandfather pulled a chair out, sitting down. His grandmother, the woman he met moments ago, sat down next to his grandfather. 

Sitting on the opposite side of his grandfather was the man who took his grandmother inside. He was a thin man resembling a drained office worker. The aura he gave off wasn’t anywhere near different. His grandfather introduced him as Jake’s uncle named Theo. Sitting next to Theo was a younger girl, around Jake’s age. She had blonde pigtails and paler than snow skin. She was slightly taller than Jake’s 5’9 height but seemed to match him in weight, both weighing about 100 pounds.

She stared at Jake, her eyes