《A quest to reveal the truth of humanity》


 Introduction to Jake Castle

    Through out history people have created gods to worship. Some gods are popular while others are only known and believed in by very few cultures. The truth is no one can say with 100% certainty that any of their gods are real. All people have is faith.


    My name is Jake Castle, I''m 17 years old and currently attending a high school in Chicago. This is my final year and then I''m off to college. I''m currently in history class, bored as hell trying to pass the time by drawing doodles. While I''m drawing at the back corner of the class room, the teacher tells me "Jake would you mind telling us what year this all happened". I raised my head, thought about it and then replied:


    Jake: "I believe it was between now and the beginning of time"


    Class giggles


    Mr. Conner: *sigh* "Can you be a bit more specific"


    Jake: "Oh yeah I''m so sorry of course I meant to say it is between yesterday and the beginning of time"


    Class starts to laugh.


    Mr. Conner: "Well obviously you don''t know what I''m talking about so I''ll just...(bell rings)... ok Jake guess you just got saved by the bell. Class dismissed"


    I start packing my stuff and heading to the door. It was finally the weekend and I had everything planned and little did I know they were about to be ruined.


    Mr. Conner: "Jake come here"


    I stop right in front of the door, sigh, and go towards Mr. Conner.


    Jake: "You need to talk to me Mr.Conner"


    Mr. Conner: "Yes I wanted to talk to you about your behavior. Since the beginning of the year you have showed no interest in this class and your grades are quite disappointing. You aren''t failing but you could improve. After all you are a smart kid "


    Jake: "I know that that''s why I don''t pay attention in your class. I have no use for this subject so why bother"


    Mr. Conner: " Well how about this. I want you to write me a thousand word essay about a historical figure of your choice this weekend. Maybe then you''ll show some interest in class"


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Jake: "Oh come on that''s not fair. I don''t need the extra work you said it yourself I''m not failing."


    Mr. Conner: "True but your cutting close and I''m worried about you. I just think that maybe if you enjoy writing about one person you will appreciate this subject a bit more and I wouldn''t have to worry about you failing and staying an extra year at this school."


    Jake: "uuuuhhh fine point taken. Can I leave now I got plans"     ??????????????????????????                      Mr. Conner: "Yes you may leave. Enjoy the weekend"???????????????????????????????????? ????   Jake: "Not anymore I won''t" I say as I''m exciting the door.


    I head out of the class room and go in front of the of the school where I was suppose to met up with some friends of mine. After 5 minutes of waiting I receive a text from one of my friends telling me that they won''t be able to make it but that they are still up for tonight. With that news I catch the bus and head home. When I arrive home I head upstairs for some peace and quite, one of the benefits of being a lonely child with two working parents.


    I switch on my computer, check my social media and my email. After that I just throw my back on the chair and reflect on my day. The god thing was still bugging me a bit but for now I was more concerned about the one thousand word essay I have to do. First step is figure out who to do it about. Oh well I''ll have enough time to figure it out but tonight I relax. It''s Friday night and I''m going to hang out with my friend and have a blast. I change my clothes, grab my stuff and headed out.

 A walk down memory lane

    I walk towards the skate park and start waving. I keep waving and walking until I reached the skate park and then made a sharp left where an abandoned hotel stood and my 2 best friends sat. So let me introduce you, my fellow readers, to my friends. First there is Jacob Conner, an average height, dark haired, blue eyed individual. We met four years ago when our teacher set us as lab partners. At first we pissed each other off all the time since we never seemed to agree on the procedure of the experiment.


    One day during a chemistry lab session we had to add metals to water and acid to learn about the reactivity of metals. For some reason Jacob got confused over part of the procedure, he was a very doubtful person, and during our argument I swung my hand and dropped all of the metals as well as the bottle of acid and water. Me, being the studious type, knew that this was not a good thing. I grabbed Jacob and ran out of the lab whilst yelling ¡°IT¡¯S GONNA BLOW¡±. Everyone ran out, then we shut the door and we all headed towards the window of the class room. The metals started reacting with the acid and water forming a mixture of flames, sparks and volcano like eruptions with flames spewing out from the sides. It was so beautiful I almost cried. After that we got detention, since we couldn¡¯t clean the class room since well it was all covered in acid and water. Me and Jason became friends that day through our love of explosions. Turns out he also thought it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw.


    Next to Jacob was my other best friend, Alexandra White (although she prefers being called Alex by her friends since her parents call her Alexandra¡­.. she doesn¡¯t like them). We met two years ago during recess. It was the first day of school and me and Jacob went to the cafeteria to find some seats. As we were walking around the cafeteria we saw a crowd forming, and being social animals we went to check it out. We pushed through the crowd and when we made it to the front. In front of us we see two girls, one with long dark hair, brown eyes and dark clothed (thats Alex) and the other girl was dressed as if she were going to a ball or prom. From the looks of it Alex was making fun of her cause she was overdressed for school. Honestly we both agreed with what Alex had to say but we knew it was wrong so we headed over to Alex:


    Jacob: ¡°Hi there I don¡¯t know if you noticed but you are kind of bulling another human being¡±


    Alex: ¡°Umm yeah kind of know what I¡¯m doing¡±


    Jake: ¡°Well can you stop¡±


    Alex: ¡°Yeah I can, but I won¡¯t¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Okay so I¡¯m going to stop you now¡±


    Alex: ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try. Just keep walking skinny¡±


    At this point the whole cafeteria seemed to be interested.


    Jake: ¡°Ok um can I talk to you in private for a sec¡±


    Alex looks confused and starts to walk towards me.


    Jake: ¡°Look I know you got a point and what not, I mean that is a bit too much what she is wearing. Anyways I''m assuming your having a bad time or something but you really don''t need to take it out on that girl over there she is actually quite nice I''m sure she is trying to make a good impression, point is you don''t seem the bullying type since well every bully picks on me at some point. So if I were you, I would apologize I''ll even come with you. That sound cool?¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Jacob starts looking at me as if to tell me "ARE YOU NUTS. DO YOU WANT TO START A FIGHT". Alex on the other hand gives me a stare as if she is in shock for a few seconds. She then blinks rapidly as if coming back to reality and responds:


    ¡°Okay.... yeah.... sounds cool¡±


    So we headed next to the girl and Alex apologized. The girl was really cool about it and accepted her apology and the crowd dissolved into nothing. Alex then turns to me and says:


    ¡°You seem alright. Want to hang out sometime?¡±


    Jake: ¡°Sureeeee we usually met up at the abandoned hotel next to the skatepark sometimes, Fridays at 8 for sure¡±


    Alex: ¡°I¡¯ll see you then¡±


    Jake: ¡°Later¡±


    She walks off leaving me and Jacob just staring.


    Jacob: ¡°I think she has a crush on you¡±


    Jake: "Shut up"


    And now you know so yeay. I go to sit next to them. I¡¯m still waving:


    Alex: ¡°Stop it¡±


    Jake: ¡°L ok. So how was school?¡±


    Alex: ¡°I was held by my History teacher. Apparently teachers cares if you pay attention or not. Well he just let me off with some advice¡±


    Jake: ¡°What did he say?¡±


    Alex: ¡°Pay attention¡±


    Jake: ¡°Great advice at least he didn¡¯t give you a 1000-word essay¡±


    Alex: ¡°Sucks to be you¡±


    Jack: ¡°Well aren¡¯t you just a ray of sunshine¡±


    Jacob: ¡°More like a black hole¡±


    Alex gives him a threatening look. Jacob''s eyes widen and looks away. Here is the thing, even though they are my best friends, Jacob and Alex never really got along. It¡¯s probably since Jake is always happy and is always acting goofy. Alex on the other hand is quite gloomy and serious. That¡¯s why I like them they are two extremes although I¡¯m pretty sure they both got a serious side and a goofy side.


    Anyways we talked a bit more with Alex gives a few more stares at Jacob and my trying to give both of them the same amount of attention. Jacob was ranting on about how he can''t wait till he can stop studying science in general including chemistry. Alex just kept reminding him he still has a while to go which just bummed Jacob. After a while Alex said:


    ¡°So I¡¯m bored of making Jacob''s life misreable. Hmmmmm you know what we should do?¡±


    Jake: "What should we do?"                                                             ???????????????????       Alex: "Go to a bar and get wasted" she replied with a grin forming on her face.


    Jacob: ¡°Sure let¡¯s just turn 21 and oh wait we can¡¯t¡±


    Jake: ¡°Ok yeah lets do that¡±


    I take out three ID cards that just turned us all 21.


    Alex: ¡°Sweeaat time to get drunk¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Well we finally agree on something¡±


    Jake: ¡°Let¡¯s go¡±


    We head off to a bar which is just a few blocks away and as we walked towards the bar I start to think what historical figure I should do my essay about. Maybe I should do it about the guy that started selling fake ID cards. I really own him a thanks at the moment.

 Mernos

    We arrive at the bar and Jacob is nervous to the point of messing the whole thing up.


    Jake: ¡°Jacob, you have got to act cool or else we will definitely be caught¡±


    Alex: ¡°If that happens won''t see the sun in the moring. Got it¡±


    Jacob''s eyes widened and said "Okay". I rolled my eyes and then sighed. I put my hand on Jake¡¯s shoulder and try to


    calm him down.


    Jake: ¡°Forget what she said. Look you got nothing to worry about. I know a lot of people who managed to get away with this¡±


    Jacob: ¡°You swear?¡±


    Jake: ¡°I swear¡±


    Jacob took a few deep breaths and calmed down a bit.


    Jacob: ¡°Okay let¡¯s do this¡±


    Alex raised her hand and said ¡°FINALLY BOOZE HERE I COME¡±


    We head to the door of the bar and we hand in our ID cards to the bouncer. Me and Alex enter without a problem. I turn my head to check if Jacob was behind us. My hearth froze. The bouncer was checking Jacob out, which is always bad. I started thinking what I would do if he realizes we have fake ID¡¯s. Maybe he will let us of the hook. Then as the bouncer starts fliping the ID card Jacob starts to says something.


    Jacob: ¡°Hey come on you done yet I don¡¯t have all night you know¡±


    The bouncer gives him a stare and says "Chill little man just doing my job" He hands over the ID card and says "Here your good"


    Alex looks and Jacob and says "So you do have some guts. That was actually impressive, for you at least"


    Jacob: ¡°Thanks ...... I guess. Anyways let¡¯s go and get WASTED¡±


    Jake: ¡°Yes finally¡±


    Alex: ¡°Leggo¡±


    We sit down at the bar and immediately Alex orders a vodka shot just sinks it down like it was nothing while me and Jacob just stare at her.


    Alex: ¡°That wasn¡¯t even my warm up¡± She says with an expressionless face.


    Jake: ¡°That¡¯s what I drink for breakfast¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oh is that a challenge¡±


    Jake: ¡°What else would it be¡±


    We stare each other down and without looking away Alex says:


    ¡°Hey bartender bring a bottle of vodka and two more shot glasses over here¡±


    Jacob: ¡°This is going to be fu.......wait two shot glasses¡±


    Jake: ¡°Well we didn''t come here to talk did we? ¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Wait what?¡±


    Alex: ¡°You heard the man. Come on don¡¯t tell me what you did before was all you had¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Oh hell no.You wish¡±


    The bartender brings us the two shot glasses and a bottle of vodka. Me and Jacob take the shot glasses and Alex fills them up. We raise our shots and I say:


    Jake: ¡°Last one standing is the winner¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oh you have no idea what you just walked into¡±


    We start taking shot after shot and then next thing I knew I was waking up in bed with a hangover.


    I have no idea what happened after we got wasted. I look at my watch to see the time. It was 5 am. I started to swear to myself and then decided to take an aspirin since I was up. I head downstairs, feeling like crap, to get an aspirin and a glass of water. I swallow the aspirin and drink the water. As I head back upstairs I see Jacob sleeping on the floor and Alex sleeping on our couch. I get two blankets and then cover them. I saying to myself ¡°I hope that was one hell of a night¡±. I head back upstairs, lay on my bed and thinking that I wasn¡¯t going to fall asleep now that I¡¯m awake, I fall asleep.


    I found myself in a temple with a bunch of white columns and white walls. I assumed that is was a Greek temple due to the design of the columns so either this was a dream or I traveled through time. While thinking about this I started to hear voices so I walk through the corridors and end up in a room filled with people in robes kind of what people used to wear in ancient Greece. The crowd seemed angry and the all seemed to be looking at the same. I couldn¡¯t understand anything besides the word ¡®Mernos¡¯. I started to walk through the crowd and see this person everyone seems to be mad at. As I was about to see who this person is, I instead see an intense light and wake up in my bed.


    I immediately sit up, kind of confused as to what just happened. I look around and see my desk, my drum set and my Albert Einstein poster. This was my room. Although I couldn¡¯t shake of the feeling of how real the dream was, And who is Mernos? That can wait until I deal with my friends.


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    I change and head downstairs and find Alex and Jacob still sleeping on the couch. My parents didn¡¯t seem to be home so I check fridge to see if they left a note. I found a note which said :


    ¡°Good morning sweetie. Sorry we didn¡¯t say goodbye but we had to leave for a few days due an urgent matter at work. I was going to wake you up but I didn¡¯t want to interrupt your beauty sleep. I know how grumpy you get when we do that to you. I wrote all the details you need to know about where we are staying and I left you some money on your desk just in case. Also tell Jacob and Alex there is some of my famous chocolate fudge cake in the fridge. I know how much they love it. Love mum XXX¡±


    I smile at the message. My mom is awesome. Cake and trusting me alone in the house. Now this feels like a dream. I open the fridge to see three quarters of fudge cake in the fridge. I take it out, cut three fat slices and head over to Alex and Jacob. I place the slices of cake on the table, then grab two of the plates and place them in front of their faces. It toke them a few seconds but they woke up and with a smile too. They start to sit up slowly, still half asleep and Jacob says:


    Jacob: ¡°Man your mums cake can work miracles I already feel like my hangover is gone just by smelling it¡±


    Alex: ¡°Same here¡±


    Jake: ¡°Well if that¡¯s not enough I¡¯ll get you some actual medicine¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Chocolate was considered a medicine you know¡±


    Alex: ¡°Don¡¯t be such a know it all¡±


    Jake: ¡°Well there is only one miracle that my mums cake can¡¯t do and that is making you two get along. And tell me something how did you guys end up here? I have no idea what happened last night¡±


    Alex: ¡°I remember bits and pieces although I¡¯m not sure. I think we tried getting into a club although we didn¡¯t manage and I think¡­.. ¡± She freezes and starts going red. She says nothing.


    Jake: ¡°Umm earth to Alex?¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oh yeah sorry I thought I remembered something else¡±


    Before I could say anything Jake decides to jump in.


    Jacob: ¡°All I know is that we had a blast. I just know we did¡±


    Jake: ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t remember anything. Although we should remember soon. At least that what my father tells me. He blacked out a couple of times in college although he always got his memory back after a few days. He actually met my mum on one of those times and she got quite upset when he didn¡¯t recognize her the day after. At least they worked things out¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oooh that¡¯s great. Any ways I have to go. I have¡­. Ummm ¡­¡­.. homework¡±


    Jake: ¡°You told me you didn¡¯t have any homework¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oh did I say homework I mean house work yeah house work¡±


    Alex gets up in a hurry without even taking a bite of the cake and heads to the door. Jacob was already eating the cake and with a mouthful of it he said:


    Jacob: ¡°Since when do you do chores?¡±


    Jake: ¡°At least take some cake before you leave¡±


    But she had already left. I don¡¯t know what that was about but I was still hung over and I had an essay to finish. Jacob gobbled up the rest of his cake and when he was done he turnsto me.


    Jacob: ¡°So you want to play some video games?¡±


    Jake: ¡°I want to, but maybe later I have a 1000-word history essay due next Monday and you know how me and history don¡¯t blend that well¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Fiiinnnee *sigh* oh well call me when you are done. I¡¯ll leave you in peace now¡±


    With a gloomy face, he stands up and walks towards the door. I follow him and before he opens the door he asks if he can take some cake home. I get my hand from behind my back revealing that I already packed him a slice. He smiles at me and hugs me. He was right that cake can work miracles. I wave good bye and shut the door. I head upstairs with my piece of cake, switch on my computer and start researching Mernos.

 Mernos revealed

    After a few hours of research, I was finally finished. Turns out Mernos isn¡¯t that popular. I couldn¡¯t find much about him through the internet but fortunately I found a few recommended books which I found at the library.


    Mernos was pretty much hated by everyone. He was a Greek philosopher who lived around the same time when Plato was alive. Everything seemed to be great. He was respected by most and seemed to have proposed some interesting theories. Unfortunately, it only toke one mistake to ruin his whole reputation as well as his life. He claimed that all gods were fake and that he had uncovered the truth of why humans exist. This of course started an uproar and from being respected he was hated. After all the Greeks were very fond of their gods and would never turn against them. His friends and family warned him to stop otherwise he will be eventually killed but Mernos was certain about his discovery. Alas, his stubbornness lead to his death. Merno would have been forgotten too but thanks to the philosophers who respected him till the end he was written down and never to be forgotten but the only thing they could not write down was the true reason of why humanity exist. It¡¯s truly a tragic story and I am so glad I finally can forget about it. The only thing that still bothers me was the dream. I don¡¯t recall hearing about Mernos in my life until that night. Maybe Mr. Conner mentioned him in class and I unconsciously took note of it or something.


    It was still 4 pm so I decided to call up Jacob and Alex to meet up at the abandoned hotel so maybe we can find out what happened last night.


    Then maybe I can figure out why Alex was acting so strangely. I grab my house keys and my sunglasses to get in the detective feel and head out of the house.


    I arrive at the abandoned hotel and check my phone. Jacob said that he will be there soon and that wanted to try out his new game after. Alex on the other hand said she was busy which I don¡¯t really believe.


    Jacob: ¡°JAKE¡±


    I jump holding my hand on my heart from the scare.


    Jake: ¡°NOT COOL JACOB¡±


    Jacob starts laughing.


    Jacob: ¡°You should have seen your face haha. It was priceless¡±


    Jake: ¡°You should see your face when I¡¯m done with you¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Oh is that a threat. Bring it¡±


    Jake: ¡°Nah you¡¯re not worth¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Oh hell no¡±


    Jake: ¡°Oh hell yeah¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Whatever. So where is Alex?¡±


    Jake: ¡°She¡¯s busy¡±


    Jacob: ¡°With what? We are her only ¡­. no no wait ¡­ you are her only friend what could see possibly have to do?¡±


    Jake: ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe she had something to do¡±


    Jacob: ¡°I don¡¯t think so maybe something happened last night, something embarrassing hhhmmm¡­.¡±


    Jacob starts to grin slowly.


    Jacob: ¡°¡­. and that is why we have to find out come on. To the bar¡±


    He grabs my hand and starts running towards the bar.


    Jake: ¡°Woah hey let go of my arm. I¡¯m right behind you¡±


    He lets go of my arm and we start running towards the bar. When we arrived we saw it was open and so we asked whether or not they knew where we went after we left. They said that we said something about a club and that¡¯s about it. So we headed to the closest club and asked a few guys there if they saw us. They said we tried to get in but he didn¡¯t let us so we decided to go home. I asked about Alex and if she did something out of the blue. He said he wasn¡¯t paying much attention to us. He had a job to do. We thanked him and we headed to my place to try out Jacob¡¯s new game. I texted Alex again and tried to tempt her with Jacob¡¯s new video game. Not only is she the best at video games but seeing Jacob suffer is a huge bonus for her.


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    When we arrived we see Alex at this door step looking like her usual self. Cool as ice and doesn¡¯t give a damn.


    Jacob: ¡°Why did you invite her. She is just going to beat us both¡±


    Jake: ¡°I know but I want to know what happened last night¡±


    Jacob: ¡°Ooooh ok well I¡¯ll leave you too alone no way she is going to open up to me. Later bro¡±


    Before I could object he runs of into the sunset like the idiot he is.I head to my door where Alex was leaning back on it.


    Alex: ¡°Where did Jacob run off too¡±


    Jake: ¡°His mum called she um said that he had to walk the dog¡±


    Alex: ¡°He doesn¡¯t have a dog¡±


    Alex start to look suspicious. I open the door while trying to think of something.


    Jake: ¡°Oh it¡¯s not their dog it¡¯s um his cousin¡¯s who is visiting for the weekend¡±


    Alex: ¡°Why doesn¡¯t his cousin walk the dog? And why would he bring his dog in the first place?¡±


    Jake: ¡°I don¡¯t know he didn¡¯t specify¡±


    Alex: ¡°Whatever¡±


    We enter the house and go to the living room. We decided to play Halo since it¡¯s the game I had the best chance of winning at. After a few game I rage quit.


    Jake: ¡°Damn how are you so good at this. Do you like practice all day?¡±


    Alex: ¡°Nope it¡¯s all talent. Either that or you just suck¡±


    Jake: ¡°Out of the question¡±


    Alex: ¡°Well then maybe you are too predictable¡±


    Jake: ¡°Oh hell no. You did not just call me predictable¡±


    Alex: ¡°Oh yes I did. Now if you don¡¯t mind I would like some cake¡±


    Jake: ¡°What losing to you isn¡¯t humiliating enough now you want me to serve you cake¡±


    Alex: ¡°The queen has spoken¡±


    Jake: ¡°Fine I¡¯ll be back¡±


    Alex: ¡°Hqq hmm¡±


    I turn around with a frown on my face.


    Jake: ¡°Your majesty¡±


    I head over to the kitchen and cut two slices of cake. I head back to the living room and give one to Alex.


    Alex: ¡°Thanks¡±


    With a big smile she starts digging into her cake


    I was kind of surprised. She usually isn¡¯t this happy or ever says thank you. Guess my mom¡¯s cake can really work miracles.


    Jake: ¡°No problem. By the way did you remembered anything from last night?¡±


    She takes a second as if she was hesitating and then responds with: ¡°Oh no didn¡¯t remember anything¡±


    Jake: ¡°Ok well you know you can tell me anything¡±


    Alex: ¡°Yeah I know¡± She smiles at me and then returns to eating her cake.


    After we ate the cake we played a few more games of Halo and of course I lost every time. It got late so Alex decided to leave because she got bored of winning for one day. I walk her out the door and waved goodbye. When I closed the door I realized I never really spent any time with Alex without Jacob being around. Does that count as a date? I shake my head getting the idea out of my head, go to my room and checked my essay for any mistakes I might have done. Then I headed to sleep.