Arriving in the city of Ripglen was…
Interesting, to say the least.
Jax and Beatris had been staying near the ballista because, weirdly enough, whether due to the two angels she had contracts with or some other reason entirely, the voice in Jax's head was quieter when he was near her.
This, however, had become rather awkward because of the thing at the diner.
That had caused a few things.
The first was that Beatris would occasionally swipe and bite at the small balls of light that were apparently her angels while saying sharp-sounding things at them in that strange angel language.
The second was that Jax kept watching Beatris more than before.
Then, every time she looked back at him, he turned away.
A simmering embarrassment bubbled in his chest for some reason.
It would not go away.
Never thought I would be the civilized one in a relationship.
The thought shot through Jax's mind.
He froze for a moment and wondered where in the hells that had come from.
It felt almost like a living temptation.
A stray thought that slipped into his head and projected itself before he could stop it.
I always wondered what made love so good that Orion risked everything.
Jax became so wrapped up in trying to silence those thoughts that he rolled off the ballista mount and fell beside the door just as Selene opened it.
"U-Uh," Selene said, staring down at him. "Jax? Are you okay?"
"I'm good," Jax grumbled as he stood and shook himself off. "Didn't anticipate the stop right."
The embarrassment clung to him more than any dirt.
Liora jumped down from where she had been sunbathing on the roof of the trailer.
Thalia exited through the door, yawning as if she had just woken up.
Then Jax heard barely contained laughter from above.
Beatris peered over the roof and gave him a small smile.
"Dumbass."
The light, gentle way she said it, almost like it was endearing, made a small war begin inside Jax's head.
One side barked, Who taught her curse words? She learned how to speak like three weeks ago. How is she already cursing fluently?
The other side just kept repeating one word.
Cute.
Cute.
Cute.
To distract himself from the battle raising arms in his head, Jax began looking around and surveying the city.
Ripglen was covered in tall, towering square buildings.
Nets of all kinds stretched overhead between them, and people bounced across those nets as if they had fallen from the sky.
The sound of rushing water came from deeper in the city.
The buildings and streets made the whole place feel strange.
More cubic than most cities.
"This place sure has a different look than most," Liora said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around.
Jax turned as Aiden stretched.
"Man," Aiden said, "those upgrades made everything so much more comfortable."
Jax chuckled, shook his head, and turned back to the city.
They had come here on their way down to the games, and to finish their two remaining quest quota.
What had everyone tense was the fact that the quests they were doing now were D-rank.
Better rewards.
Better options.
More danger.
After making sure everything was locked up, they started down the road.
As they walked, their eyes trailed over the different buildings.
Shops.
Homes.
And all types of structures lined the streets.
It did not take long before they found themselves standing around a central fountain.
Though the fountain itself was strange.
Water poured down from a large black-and-white circle in the sky.
A similar circle sat at the bottom of the fountain.
As they stared, unsure of what the circles even were, a group of kids went diving in.
Before anyone could ask or say anything, they heard the kids overhead.
Jax looked up.
The children were falling from the hole in the sky and bouncing away on the overhead nets at surprising speed.
"Well," Beatris said, staring upward at the nets. "That's one way to get around."
They ended up standing there watching people jump in and bounce away for a good half hour before Selene finally spoke.
"W-We should find a quest to do before it gets late."
There were a variety of agreements.
Some nods.
Some grunts.
One noise from Aiden that might have been acknowledgment but also might have been him wondering whether he could build one of those portals into the A.T.V.
They continued down the road.
Eventually, they split up.
Selene, Thalia, and Liora headed to find the guild and grab a quest.
Aiden, Beatris, and Jax went looking for a shop where Aiden could resupply on herbs.
Beatris wanted them to go with him in case her angels could find an herb that might help with the lingering insanity.
They made their way to a simple shop built up along one of the taller structures.
To reach it, they had to climb a ladder to a small platform near the nets before entering through the doorway.
The shop itself was simple.
There was little in terms of actual ingredients aside from the popular ones, like materials used in healing potions.
Aiden made a beeline for the counter, pulled out his little journal, flipped to a page, and began asking about the apparatus he would need to make the potion for Selene.
While he handled that, Beatris and Jax looked around the herb section.
Jax's eyes kept drifting over the shelves.
Not really looking at anything in particular.
A few customers came and went.
After a minute, Beatris made her way back over.
"I couldn't find anything," she said. "Sorry."
Jax nodded and turned back toward where Aiden had been standing near the front.
But his eyes drifted back to Beatris.
For a moment, he simply watched her.
Thoughts of what his brother had risked for love flashed through his head.
As Jax watched her, he felt a strange pulse in his chest.
Almost like his heart was pushing out a different, better blood through his body.
The feeling intensified the longer he stared at Beatris.
Then she turned back and met his eyes.
She gave him a pitying look before nudging him with her shoulder.
"We will fix this," Beatris said. "Now let's see where Aiden went."
She did not wait for his reply.
Jax watched after her as she walked toward the front of the store.
His heart pounded wildly.
Like it might explode.
He could hear it in his ears.
Your Insanity has shifted.
Insanity has become Obsession.