To Find the Infection 2: Gladiator
Chapter 17: New Beginnings, New Problems
A breeze blew some dried up leaves into an elegant dance in the air. The marketplace was full of energy today, as families gathered what they would need for the days to come. Food, weapons, tools, everything could be found. The earth was peaceful, but even so, people still speak of the terrible incident, the one they call "The Day". The Day would be the one event that would alter the earth, along with its peoples and their views of their own morality. Life was simply too short, at least to most villager's eyes. The Day was literally "the day the earth was almost destroyed", as most people said. It has been about four years since The Day had taken place.
A young man walked into the marketplace, eyeing some valuables, and checking out what foods were for sale. He wore black shoes and pants, along with a red jacket, nothing special. He listened to most of the chatter that was in the air of most of the folks around. The Day was always something interesting to talk about, but the new topic was about the disappearance of The Juggernaut, directly after the day. Not only that, but there had already been more news. People were being killed. Normally, the young man would not have been bothered by this, but he always shuddered when he heard the description of the deceased.
"The poor victim, with remains of flesh and bone still fresh from the kill, separated from their body. The skin is said to be very white. It is as if the killer 'sucks the blood right out of them'."
The young man had already seen new wanted posters, hanging on random trees in brown, wrinkled parchment. The newer posters hung above more posters that had either fallen off of the trees, or were simply torn down. Among the ones hanging was an eerie picture of a man, shrouded in shadows. The only thing other than the picture was large writing on the bottom, reading:
WANTED: ARK: DEAD or ALIVE
Ark was the name that the villagers had given this man, for what reasons, the young man didn't know. The man sighed, and continued to purchase goods.
The man, after eyeing everything in the marketplace, had seen enough, and began to exit the village. The sun was very high in the sky, glowing very bright. The light shined onto the man's face, reflected off of something on the young man's left arm. A golden brace shined brightly on the man's arm. He slowly began to levitate into the sky, and suddenly disappeared.
Erutan reappeared at his home, in the Sanctuary in the sky. It had been his home since The Day. Everything became quiet without the chattering of the villagers. Erutan sighed again, and walked up a white stone path and into the inner Sanctuary.
"It's so quiet." He mumbled obviously, his voice echoing into the outer rooms. He looked upward. The stars were visible from his Sanctuary. They shined above the earth, dancing in front of Erutan's eyes. "I still need to find Majotte." Erutan spoke again.
"Countless times, I've tried to create a rip, just like the one Majotte entered," Erutan said, "but I just can't generate as much power as he and Zain did on The Day." He thought deep, and spoke to the inner orb that lay dormant in his body. "Any ideas?"
"…" the inner voice remained silent.
Erutan grew fustrated. Indeed, he had been constantly creating rips in the universe, searching for Majotte, but none of the rips could maintain themselves long enough to find anything useful. So far, nothing, not even a clue, could lead to Zain, or Majotte's whereabouts.
The sky below had grown dark with the night. Erutan yawned out of exhaustion; it had been a long day today.
"It's okay." Erutan said, with confidence. "Tommorow, I have a feeling that I'll get it right for sure…