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Chapter Twenty: Infection - A Costly Escape

“Koza…Where did you go?” Tera said in a sad tone as she placed her hands on the spot where the portal had been.

“This is odd…I can’t pick up Koza or Adrian anywhere,” James said over the tracker chip.

“James, can’t you talk to Koza with the tracker chip?” Tera asked.

“No good,” James replied. “I tried to speak with him alone, but all I get is static. It’s so strange…”

“There has to be something I can do!” Tera said as she pounded her fist on the wall. “Koza…”

At that moment, there was a small whooshing noise a little bit away. Tera quickly turned around and saw a portal open up on the other wall of the mine. Koza came shooting through, knocking his head on the wall opposite the portal, dropping the shard in his hand in the process, causing the portal to close. Tera gasped and ran over.

“Tera, is that Koza?” James’ voice buzzed over the tracker chip.

“Yeah James, it’s him! He’s back!” Tera said enthusiastically.

“Odd…He wasn’t gone very long was he?”

“I’m not sure what happened, but he disappeared and reappeared in a matter of seconds,” Tera said. She then noticed the wound on Koza’s shoulder. “Huh? How did he get that so quickly?” She leaned in to get a better look, oblivious to the fact that Koza was out cold. As she got up next to the wound, it crackled with dark energy, causing her to jump back. At this, Koza groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. The wound crackled again, making Koza twitch slightly.

“Koza, are you okay? What happened? Where did you go?” Tera asked. He put a hand over the wound on his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he said in a dull tone of voice. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” Koza turned around and started to walk towards the entrance of the mine. Tera followed behind him quietly. As he reached the entrance to the mine, he simply busted through the boards and stopped outside. Tera looked at the boards before walking up next to Koza.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Tera asked again. Koza nodded once. “…Then what happened to Adrian…?”

“He’s dead,” Koza said coldly. “The shard keeping him alive was destroyed. I won’t go into detail.”

Tera stared for a moment, then nodded. Koza still had a hand over the wound on his shoulder. It crackled with dark energy underneath. She didn’t say anything, but Tera was deeply concerned about it. Koza seemed to be ignoring it like it was nothing.

“Koza? Where did you go?” James’ voice came over his tracker chip.

“According to Adrian, the Spirit World,” he replied.

“Spirit World you say?” James said thoughtfully. “Interesting…Koza, do you still have the shard that made the portal there?” James asked.

“I think so,” Koza said. After not being able to find it, Koza said, “I think I dropped it when I came back through the portal.”

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Tera asked, holding up the shard.

“That looks about right,” Koza said as he took the shard.

“Could you bring that back to the library? I’d like to run some… tests on it.”

“Sure I guess,” Koza said as he shrugged his shoulders. He put the shard in his pocket and started off around the lake. Tera knew there was something wrong, though she followed behind him silently. The nervousness she felt around the lake from before was completely gone.

“Guys, that blip is back on the screen coming from the lake, only this time it appears to be moving around,” James warned.

“Moving around? Interesting…” Koza said to himself, paying no mind to the lake. Tera didn’t even care about what James had said.

“Wait…Scratch that last comment, there is actually a number of smaller objects coming from the large one in the center…Head’s up guys, something big is about to happen!”

Koza and Tera stopped and turned their attention towards the lake. The water was beginning to shake and ripple violently. After a moment, dozens of small submarines rose to the surface of the lake. A larger one rose from more towards the shore. The top hatch opened, and a man wearing an ARK uniform stood up.

“End of the line ya brats!” he shouted in a gruff voice. “You’ll never be able to defeat a fleet of our submarines!” With that, he jumped back down into the sub and closed the hatch. Koza simply watched with a blank look on his face.

“Heh…” he said as he drew his rapier. “Come. I’ll escort you to your funeral.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he ran forward with incredible speed. So fast in fact that his body simply zoomed across the surface of the water. Before any of the submarines had a chance to re-submerge, Koza ran buy each of them and struck at the hull. The entire scene was over in a matter of seconds. Tera couldn’t believe her eyes. Koza reappeared standing next to her, his entire right arm, and now his rapier were crackling with dark energy.

“Koza…” was all she could say.

The energy calmed down after a while. Koza pulled out the shard that opened the portal from before.

“Are you guys okay?” James asked over the tracker chips. “I’m not sure if I believe the screen here…According to the screen, Koza just took out well over 2 dozen of those submarines?”

“I guess I did, didn’t I?” Koza said with a hint of indifference in his voice. “ARK shouldn’t have tried again like that.”

“ARK?” James asked. “That worldwide organization ARK?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. They’ve been after me and Tera for a while now. We just send them packing each time they try something,” Koza explained calmly.

“Well, I for one applaud that,” James said. “ARK just doesn’t know when to quit at times.”

“…And you would know that how?” Koza asked.

“…” James went silent for a moment. “Say, why not bring that shard on down to the library now huh?” he said quickly.

“Fine, fine,” Koza said. “Come on Tera.” He started off towards town. Tera was still stuck on what had just happened. She shook her head and followed. She was going to keep a close eye on Koza from now on.

They entered Brannoch Village through the rear gate. The wound on Koza’s shoulder sparked with dark energy every now and then, though he seemed to not notice. Tera was eyeing him the whole time. As they came upon the library, Koza went around to the front and pushed the doors open, not even waiting for Tera. He walked up to the desk where James sat. Assorted computer monitors and machinery were laid out along the desk.

“Here,” Koza said as he set the shad down on the desk. “And here,” he said again as he reached behind his ear, pulling off the tracker chip and setting down next to the shard. Tera had come in by this time, and took her chip off as well, setting it next to Koza’s.

“Thank you guys. I’m sure I can do a lot with a shard of this size,” James said with a smile. Koza nodded.

“Not a problem. Now if you’ll excuse us, we must be going,” Koza said before turning around and walking towards the door. Tera thanked him for his help and followed after Koza.

“Where are we going in such a hurry?” Tera asked him as she went up and walked alongside him.

“There’s something I have to do,” Koza said with a hint of anger in his voice. They headed out of the rear gate again and walked back to the lake. “This place looks really familiar, and if I’m where I think I am, then I should be able to find what I’m looking for,” he said.

“Which is?” Tera asked.

“I’ll show you. Follow me.” Koza started to walk next to the river, following it downstream. Tera wasn’t sure what to make of this, though she walked alongside him. After a good ten minutes, the river opened up into a larger body of water, just as James had said. Koza looked around, then turned left away from it. Tera followed after him. After going through a few trees and shrubbery, they came out on a long dirt pathway. Koza looked down both possible directions, and started down one. Tera was lost already. She hoped that Koza knew where he was going.

He stopped at a clearing at the end of the path. There was an unmarked grave that appeared to have been dug up. He walked over and looked down at it.

“Damn ARK…” he muttered. He turned and walked in another direction away from the clearing. Tera was confused, but she kept up the following act. Before long, there was a town visible up ahead.

“There it is,” Koza said. “That’s what I wanted.”

“Another town?” she asked.

“Not just any town,” Koza said. He stopped in front of the entrance. The sign above said “SOROTO” in big letters. “It’s been a while…”

“Koza, what town is this?” Tera asked. Koza’s body sparked with dark energy again.

“My hometown,” he said with an emotionless voice. Tera was taken aback.

“Your hometown?” she repeated. “But…I thought that…They ran you out! Why would you come back to somewhere like that!” she yelled at him. His body surged violently with dark energy, causing Tera to step back slightly.

“Simple,” he said with a hint of evil in his voice. “I’m going to kill them all.”




Next Chapter: Epilogue