The bulk of this tab will be referring to the main timeline. What's different in other timelines is detailed under the 'Other Timelines' section.

The Candle

The candle in Jack's chest is known as the Life Candle. It is a kind of magic candle that, true to its name, brings life to those around it. While the candle cannot breathe sentience into, say, a wall or house, it can do so for an inorganic replica of a living thing. It can also give vitality to already living things. For example, an individual striken with a pathogenic illness may find themself cured due to the candle's influence bolstering their immune system.

Something as good as this cannot come easily, however. There are many stipulations and obstacles to creating a Life Candle. First, one must have an original issue of the candle recipe, for the ingredients required changes every time a Life Candle is made. If one deliberately makes a candle using an outdated recipe, they will create a Death Candle instead, which looks identical to a Life Candle until lit. After a Death Candle is lit, anyone around it has only one second to realize their mistake. Second, any Life Candle recipe will contain at least one ingredient that is hard to locate without diligent research. Third, the candle will burn for exactly one year, regardless of how tall or wide it is.

Jack is constantly on the clock to find the ingredients for his next life candle before his creation day, sometimes needing to start from scratch on the rare occasion of someone else making a Life Candle. Not an enviable existence, to be sure.

Story Outline

Jack was created by someone at least 20 years ago. Though there was an incredible amount of detail and thoughtfulness to his design, down to precise joints in his fingers and clothes specifically tailored to display his chest compartment, his creator apparently wasn't interested in staying with him long. He was left at a young age with extensive knowledge of candlemaking and foggy, incomplete memories of his creator.

As he grew, he began to learn how to make more kinds of magic candles in his time between gathering Life Candle ingredients. He even invented a few new recipes as he experimented with leftover herbs and other plant matter. Word got around in the town nearby, and soon enough he had a reliable customer base willing to pay a fair price for his work. With no need for food and water and no rent to pay, he used the money to construct a garden of plants he often needed for his candles.

Along with keeping himself alive, working his shop, and tending to his garden, Jack also strived to find out more about his creator. Whenever his journey for Life Candle ingredients would take him out of town, he would work on compiling clues about his creator and his whereabouts. Sometimes he would find people who knew of him, or at least claimed to. However, accounts of the man often contradicted each other. Some would say that the man mentioned Jack and spoke fondly of him, others would say that he openly regretted creating Jack, and other still would say that he claimed he had no person he would call a son. Some people claimed the man was jolly, others claimed he was spiteful, other still claimed he was erratic. Even though Jack was making progress on narrowing down his creator's location, he felt no closer to figuring out the man's character.

Finally, he was able to come upon a name and address. Scared to go right away, he decided to go only after he had made his replacement candle. When he found the last ingredient for it, for the first time ever he wished it hadn't come so soon. With no excuse to stall any longer, he made his journey to the address. When he knocked on the door, a young man opened it and cautiously greeted him. Jack asked if there was a man by the name he had found living there. The young man looked away and said that the man wasn't there. Jack asked if he knew where the man was now. The young man said no, and that the man in question was his father, who he hadn't seen since he was very young. Jack didn't know how to respond at first, but eventually explained why he was there. About how the young man's father was his creator, and that he also hadn't seen him since not long after his creation. Not wanting to waste more of the young man's time and dredge up more sob stories, Jack turned around and began to leave. The young man stepped out of the doorframe and stopped him.

"I was just making dinner, how about you join me? After all, with my father and your creator being the same man, that makes us brothers, yes?"

Other Timelines

In one timeline, the looking for creator plot is replaced with a story involving a young dragonboy named Lucian. Lucian is afflicted with a not very contagious but severely destructive illness that is progressively worsening with time. His parents, having tried everything, come to Jack's shop and beg him to take in Lucian as an apprentice. They had heard of how Jack's candle brings life to those around it and believe that it could help their dear son. Jack, though usually not entirely comfortable with company, agrees to take Lucian in. As time progresses, Lucian gains more and more strength. He also realizes he likes to gather and learn about herbs and other plants. Eventually, Lucian becomes completely cured from his illness, but he requests to still remain as Jack's apprentice.