Chapter 229: We Only Get One?
"Jack?" Maurice’s voice sounded apprehensive, his brown eyes cloaked with evident trepidation at the sudden disappearance of Jack. The portal that had opened up earlier was no longer visible... but they needed that portal to make it into the finals, it was the only way to proceed... but if the portal isn’t here then does this mean they acted a little too late? Have they failed the event?
But where on Earth is Jack??
"Jack!" He called out with concern, immediately searching the vicinity for his fellow teammate. Bryn, who heard Maurice calling out Jack’s name repeatedly, tried to move, but a sharp pain coursed through his right shoulder joint, making him stay put. When there was no sign of Jack, Bryn clenched his jaw and forced his body to rise from the ruins he had been smashed into. His lean, but youthfully honed body was covered with dust, and his once black hair was tainted brown due to the sand.
When he couldn’t spot Jack, his hands balled into a tight fist.
"That bastard left without us!" The anger in his rising voice could not be misjudged. Maurice had stopped calling out Jack’s name upon hearing Bryn’s enraged declaration, and he would have believed it if the person they were currently talking about was Bryn himself, but Jack? Jack wouldn’t do that to the both of them. They came here as a team and it was necessary for them to win or lose as one. No matter how he chose to view their predicament, he trusted Jack way more than he would ever trust Bryn.
"That can’t be true." Maurice shook his head, feeling slightly offended by Bryn’s unwarranted assumptions. "You can’t presume that he left, what if he’s in some sort of danger? We have no knowledge of this place! So far a lot of things have been sneaking up on us. There’s no way he could leave, it’s not possible since we’re yet to retrieve the Dragon scale. Without the Dragon scale the portal won’t grant us entry to the final round, its importance was noted."
"Well, I hate to screw your new friendship but we’ve been betrayed." He hissed in pain and continued, "you can’t find your bag, we can’t find Jack, and the portal is gone. There’s a DRAGON waiting to listen to our bargain and we have nothing to offer it. We might as well give up the ghost since we’re doomed." He scowled and tried to fix his arm properly, resisting the urge to call Maurice a gullible fool.
"He... left without us?" Maurice questioned yet again, but his voice faltered with disappointment. Listening to the lad, Bryn exhaled sharply and narrowed his eyes at Maurice.
"This is one of your fucking problem you thwart, you trusted him and that was a terrible step to take. Never trust anyone. Work with them, but don’t trust them. This isn’t a real mission, there’s a prize to win at the end of it, and that includes doing everything you can to get there. However, this lesson won’t come in handy once I get my hands on that conniving bastard. He’s so going to regret leaving us here, I’ll snap him in two!"