Trake

The Charms of David Jon

The old man brushed his fingers over a few books as he searched for a certain book. The dust came off on his fingers, revealing streaks of colour that inhabit the book bindings under the muted browns of dust. He was singing a sea shanty as he walked along the giant bookcase, looking for the book. He tapped a few books here and there, before ripping a book from its place with a soft "Ah-ha!"
He giggled to himself and finished off the sea shanty in a more rigorous and hasty fashion as he danced his way his plump old chair behind a large old table. He dropped into the chair and pulled himself forward. The book was plopped onto the dusty yet cluttered old desk.
A pair of round, rimless spectacles were flicked out of his pocket and onto his face with ease.
"Come see! Come see!" he summoned Trake with his index finger.
The tall boy moved across the carpet. Once red; it was covered in what everything else in this study...Everything in this house was covered in.
Dust. Bloody Dust.
Trake wiped a finger across his nose to get rid of a trail of snot beginning to ooze out of his nose as he walked around the table to get next to the old man.
"I knew I had seen these before! Here! Read this segment," he gestured to the space between his left index and thumb. Trake lent onto the table and turned the book slightly to get a better view.
The words were a bit hard to make out as schooling in an orphanage wasn't exactly top class.
"The charms of David Jon where..erm, I'm sorry...were his most treasur...treasured items. They were born of magic unknown to most. The magic of Devil. They say David made a pact with him and promised to pillage and plunder under his name in order to save himself from death. The items he carried were cursed so that the bearer was able to do extra...extrandory?" he looked at his uncle.
"That's: extraordinary, my good lad."
"Thanks,"he looked back at the book, his face straining from the concentration.
"The items he carried were cursed so that the bearer was able to do extraordinary-," he smiled as he said the word,"feats at the cost of their humanity. They become more ruthless with every use of their charm until they lose or rational thought, all manners. The become human beasts. David Jon himself is said to be in the Grand Line, living on an island where he apparently eats all who come in his path. He has turned primal. Worse than a monkey or even a pig. An eternally living beast with a bloodlust that will never be sat-," he paused to look at the uncle.
"Satiated."
"-sataiated," he finished.
Trake pushed his uncle's thumb.
"What are these pictures underneath?"
"They are the pictures of the charms. You may recognise your own there."
Trake studied the diagrams, reading each description.
"Why are there some pictures missing from some and descriptions missing from others?"
"That is because some have not been officially seen or their properties are not known," he tapped his chin as the sunlight coming from the enormous window behind him caused his silhouette to fall on the desk.
Trake nodded and looked back at the book. He looked up at his uncle after puzzling something over in his head.
"So, what is this rarity level?"
The old man grinned and leaned forward. he pulled the book his way and flicked a couple of pages forward, then one or two back. He smiled and turned it to Trake. It showed a diagram that Trake studied as the old man spoke.

"Each charm has its own rarity as some harder than others to find."
"Why, uncle?"
"Well," stated the old man with a glint in his eye and an excited grin on his mouth,"The story goes that David Jon's wife hid the charms all over the World. The ones with more intense power were said to be harder to find. She did it in an attempt to hide the curse from the World as it condemns a man's soul to an eternity of torment, no torture worth even the most heinous criminal."
Trake shivered and went back to studying the diagram.
After a few moments a he turned his head once more and looked at his old uncle.
"What is the one at the top? I saw on the other page it had no picture, description or name...But all the other charms lead to it."
The old man laughed,"I was waiting for you to ask me! I was beginning to think you were slower than I thought!"
Trake looked at the crazy old man that was rolling around the over-sized chair laughing, with a look of worry.
"This old guy should be put somewhere safe,"he thought with a grin on his lips.
The old man rubbed his eyes and righted himself on the chair before continuing:
"This unknown one is officially denied to exist but is rumoured to be the greatest of all the charms. It can only be obtained by gathering every other charm and travelling to Bedrock Island, also known as the Island that can't be seen. From there the tales split as no one is known to have gone to Bedrock Island except David Jon's wife, to hide the secret charm."
"And what does this charm do?" asked Trake, his interest piqued.
"It is said to be the charm that grants..." he paused to swallow quickly and lean forward so that he could whisper in Trake's ear.
In a soft voice he finished,"Eternal life."
Trake gasped as the old man sat back into his chair.
"Are you serious?!"Trake shouted excitedly.
"Of course, my lad! Why would I lie about a thing this important!" he laughed.

Trake placed the cup of tea back on the table.
"Thank you for the tea," he said with a smile, disguising his dislike for the weak drink.
"Sure thing, lad."
"Thanks, for the help as well," he said, standing to go.
"Wait, before you go," he said urgently, diving for Trake's arm as he turned to walk.
"There are people that control this area, The Noels, its not official but they run this place like its their own. Now don't cause any trouble okay, because if you make trouble with them-they make trouble with us."
"Sure thing, uncle," said Trake as he brushed that aside and shouted back something that sounded like "It was nice to meet you!" before slamming the door behind him.

-Excerpt from a Clockwork Pirates thread