Jordan lay on the balcony of Tom's house, absentmindedly staring up at the twisting emerald vines as he rested against the railing.

There were so many things to think about that Jordan couldn't think straight, the thoughts bombarding him all at once just to back off and hit him again.

He sighed in frustration, and tried focusing on the main question racketing about in his head.

What was he going to do?

In his dream, he had spoken to Mianite, or.. at least.. he hoped he had. It was a little too early to be going crazy.

He had made a promise, but how was he to keep it?

Mianite hadn't given him much information regarding his sister's disappearance, just that he should help her.

How was he to help if he didn't know the problem.

Jordan groaned. He hated mystical beings and their lack of explaining things.

Jordan's attention snapped back to reality as he heard footsteps downstairs.

"Jordan! Where are ya?" Tom's voice echoed up the stairs.

"Up here!" Jordan shouted back, pulling himself to his feet, dusting off the stray leaves that had fallen on him as he rested.

"Get down here! I've got somethin' to show yous!"

Jordan raised an eyebrow at this before heading down the stairs.

Tom stood at the bottom of the staircase, tapping his foot impatiently. Jordan noticed worriedly that his friend's eyes were now weighed down with dark bags.

"You okay there?"

Tom waved off the question before holding out his hand.

Jordan looked down at the outstretched hand, confused for a moment before his eyes lit up as he noticed what Tom was holding.

"Where did you-"

"I found them when you washed up." Tom interrupted. "I would have given them back sooner, of course, if I hadn't of..um...stepped on them a bit while chasing you." Tom smiled sheepishly.

Carefully, Jordan took the red sunglasses from Tom's pale green hand, holding them fondly in his grip.

"Thank you." Jordan whispered as he pulled them off, suddenly feeling a wave of relief as the familiar weight settled in front of his eyes.

Tom looked at Jordan in surprise, before grinning.

"Now ya look like a real swaggy pimp."

Jordan frowned, then shrugged, not entirely sure whether that had been a compliment or not.

"So how did you-" Jordan began, but stopped as a loud beep interrupted him.

"What the-" Another beep stopped him.

"How did I what?" Tom looked at him curiously.

"No!" Beep! "...can't you hear that!?"

"Hear what?!" Tom shouted back, obviously annoyed.

"The beeping." Another beep. "OW! That's annoying! What is that?"

"What is what?" Tom cried out exasperated looking at Jordan as if he'd lost it, which was possible. "What do you mean beeping- Oh!" Tom's face cleared.

"Oh, what?" Jordan asked pleadingly.

"That's the chat." Tom frowned.

"Chat?" Jordan winced as another beep echoed throughout his head.

"Yeah, to be technical, it's the Connected Hub Apparatus Telecommunicator, or C.H.A.T. for short. Everyone in Mianite is connected through it. Though, I'm kind of surprised you have one considering your..um.. situation." Tom furrowed his eyebrows.

"My situation?"

"You're whole unclaimed bullsh*t." Tom muttered. "I don't know why they haven't held the ceremony to let you just chose Dianite already."

Jordan winced, and not just because the beeps were getting louder.

"Okay, okay. How do I stop it from beeping?"

Tom folded his arms, annoyed that Jordan was ignoring the topic before simply sighing.

"You just wave your hand in front of you with the intent of viewing the message." He explained, as if this was common knowledge.

Jordan glared at him for a second to make sure he wasn't being made a fool out of, but another resounding beep interrupted his thoughts, ridding him of any hesitation.

Eager to rid his head of the pestering beeping, he waved his hand in front of himself, feeling slightly foolish.

Almost immediately, a bluish holographic screen appeared, surprising Jordan as it cut off a beep halfway.

"Woah!" He exclaimed incredulously as the screen loaded up in front of him.

Tom raised an eyebrow.

"I'm assuming you see it now. The cool thing is that only you can see it, providing perfect privacy and invisibility if sneaking up on someone." Tom supplied, finding Jordan's amazement somewhat amusing.

Jordan raised his eyebrow at that last part, but lowered it as he swung his head side to side, watching as the screen followed.

"Now hurry up and tell me who it is, ya spoon."

"Why on earth do you keep calling me that?"

"Cuz you're a twat." Tom replied straight-faced.

"You know, I find that spoons are actually quite useful."

Tom rolled his eyes and leaned over Jordan's shoulder, peering down where Jordan was looking, as if he could see the flickering screen.

Jordan quickly found the message board, reading the text stretched across the screen. He frowned at the unfamiliar name.

"It's from someone named...Jeriicho?"

Tom lifted an eyebrow.

"Ah, that's Tucker."

"Then why does it say Jeriicho?" Jordan asked confused.

Tom rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"Well, Tucker is technically his real name, but when you arrive in this realm, everyone is given a new identity. For example, Sonja is Fire Fox if that wasn't made obvious by her getup."

Jordan frowned.

"What's yours then?"

"Syndicate." Tom grinned proudly.

Jordan tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Then why do you call each other by your original names?"

"Tell you laaaater, So what did he saaaaay?" Tom whined like a four-year-old.

Jordan looked down at the screen once again.

"He said the priest is calling a meeting and we're to get our, and I quote, lazy asses down there." Jordan looked up at Tom, who was bouncing on his heels, his face lit up.

"It's about time! It's been a week since he's said anything to us."

Jordan furrowed his eyebrows. Did this mean it was already time?

He glanced over at Tom, who was busy gathering stuff for their trip as the muddle of thoughts swirling in his head threatened to overwhelm him.

Sure, it had been nearly a week since his dream, but he still wasn't prepared for this.

What if Jordan didn't choose Dianite?

He shivered, the thought of having Tom as an enemy wasn't very appealing. Over the past few days, he had watched Tom practice dueling with a straw dummy, and he was defenitely not someone Jordan wanted to fight anytime soon.

But...Dianite had been the one who had tried to kill him.

He hadn't told Tom, of course, but he felt it wouldn't change the stubborn man's loyalty to his god one bit.

"Jordan! Come on, mate!"

Jordan turned just as Tom barreled out the door and reluctantly followed.

This was defenitely going to be... interesting.

A/N

Sorry it's a little short..

Thought it was better than nothing, though.

Hit a lot of writer's block with both this and another story I've recently started working on.

But school's almost out guyssss!

Maybe then I can actually catch the livestreams.

Unless of course I get a job.

Which I need to do so i can pay for my book buying addiction. ;)

But on another note, this has gotten a lot more reads than I thought it would! Thank you guys SO MUCH! Soon I'll have to think of a name for you guys...my little turtles? Nah, that's a little weeeird.

Oh well, bye my friends!

~TuRtLe