To Find the Infection

Chapter 4: The Spreading Plague

There was a beach ahead. What would one first think when they see the beach? They see calm sanctuary, others may see it as a place to relax and just enjoy life. The "other" people, people such as Majotte and Erutan however, see this as a dead end. Majotte sighed as he headed towards the water, full of salt, unable to drink, not that he cared, he wasn't really thirst, and neither was Erutan. They both stared blankly into the deep sea, the waves crashing in, taking bits of tiny sand, while at the same time dumping other sea animals onto the ocean.

Erutan himself was actually shocked at the sight. It wasn't simply dead turtles, or a bird that got lost at the seas. There were creatures as large as himself, ranging from creatures such as the seals, to even the giant whales and orcas of the sea. Erutan winced at the sight, he could feel the animals pain, somehow. Ever since he found his new abilities, it is as if his intunement with nature has multiplied. This doesn't necessarily mean a good thing however.

Majotte looked towards Erutan, pondered for a second, then broke the silence. "Erutan, you say you get your powers from the natural elements of the Earth right? Well, take a look at the water." he told him.

Erutan looked down into the water. Sure, at first glance it looked as though it was the natural water of the seas, but at second look, Erutan was surprised to see what was inside the water. A black mist covered the bottom of the sea Erutan felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, as if the poison burned him. He backed away from the water, only to trip on his feet and fall back, landing in the soft sand. He chuckled, but then regained his focus onto the sea. He sat up, and crossed his legs. "So," he finally said back, "what do we do now?" Erutan asked his new friend.

"We wait." Majotte said.

"Egh." Erutan groaned, he himself didn't really like the idea of sitting around and doing nothing at all. "I guess I could tell you a little about me," Erutan said, "at least the part of me that I remember, just to kill off the time."

"Go ahead and speak, but before you do, think about this: How much of that infected water do you think is killing all of those animals, even plants. Since your energy is fed from the natural elements of Earth, wouldn't this infection affect your powers?" Majotte asked.

Erutan could already see Majotte as his new sage, as a man who really thinks this kind of thing through. "Well, from what I know of, I will, but not to a large extent." Erutan replied. "You know, I wasn't born with this power, at least I don't think so." Erutan said, staring back at the water. Suddenly, he heard another snap inside his head, and more memories began to flood back into his body. "I was once a nobody. I was poor, and I was an orphan, I had nothing or noone. I wondered Earth to find someone or something to aid me. I was stranded in the desert, when I think I met this man. I couldnt see him clearly, but he had a orb in his hand, and with it, he made water appear before my very eyes. He saved me, he helped me live. After I finished the water he got a rock and chipped off a piece of the orb. He then stabbed me in the chest, and placed the piece inside the wound, and it healed instantly."

Erutan shuddered at the painful thought of this memory. "He also gave me this thing." Erutan said, lifting his arm. Upon it, lay a golden metal band that clamped around Erutan's left arm. It was of simple design: Solid gold, with an angelic wing sticking out to the left, and a devil wing stretching out to the right. In the center, a figure of a strange man stood, as if he was a statue. The man was of medium build, muscles shown around his chisled body in the band, and he wore sandals. He himself had angelic wings. Erutan spoke again, "I never asked him about it, he left before I could see which way he took off." Erutan said.

Suddenly, Erutan let out a long, loud yawn. Unknown to him, the poison had been sapping his body strength. "Well Majotte, I'm gonna...take a nap." Erutan said to Majotte. He suddenly dropped his entire body on the sandy beach, and fell into a deep sleep.

"Hm, whatever." Majotte muttered. His body suddenly shot up into the air, and just like magic, he was floating in mid-air. "You want to fall behind, go ahead, it will be up to you to catch up!" Majotte told the unconcious Erutan. Just like that, Majotte flew off into the setting sun.

The poison in the water dissapeared. Something was about to happen. Erutan suddenly jolted awake. He looked around, Majotte was gone, the ocean was still rocking to an unheard rhythm.

"I guess he went ahead." Erutan said. "I'll find him, this ocean shouldn't be too large." Erutan assured himself. With unknown certainty, Erutan imagined an immense gust of wind, and just like that, the wind blew him up into the air, and allowed him to hover, just like Majotte. "I didn't know I could do that..." Erutan said. He quickly shot up higher into the atmosphere, to get a better look at the surrounding lands, which, not to the surprise of Erutan, where nothing but uninhabited islands. There was a glimmer on one of the islands that attracted Erutan. He instantly shot off towards the island, thinking it to be Majotte to started the fire.

Erutan landed on the island, hearing nothing, but what startled Erutan, was that there was no fire. Erutan's nerves where nearly shattered when he heard a faint whisper.

"Ah, I see you are here."

Erutan turned around. There, in front of his face, stood a cloaked figure. He was a smaller man, and from the sound of his voice, extremely old. The cloak he wore was completely brown, and all that was visible was his eyes.

"I'd figure you wouldn't recognize your savior." the cloaked figure spoke.

"So you helped me in my time of need." Erutan said to the man.

"Yes, and now I need your help." the man said, sounding desperate. "There's this group of people trying to track me down, they are trying to kill me, and take away the orb that I used to save your life!" he said.

"Who are they, what are their names?"

The man cracked a smile. "I only know of one. His name is Zain..."

There was a bright flash of light, and Erutan was alone. At least until he heard a familiar voice.

"Wake up boy, I saw the whole thing." Majotte spoke to Erutan. Erutan got up, and looked up at the sky. "I tried to track down the figure, but he trapped me with some strange orb, it had incredible power." Majotte told Erutan.

"What happened?" Erutan asked.

"Like I said, he used some strange orb on me, it pulled me into the ocean with it. I managed to overpower it eventually though." Majotte said. "Well, I tried, let's go." he added.

"Majotte," Erutan said, "Do you know of anyone named Zain?"

"Yes, but I only know of him from the figure."

"I see." Erutan replied.

Majotte looked towards the ocean. "There is a village nearby on the other side of the ocean, it will take us about a day to get there." Majotte said. "Maybe they've heard of this 'Zain' character." Majotte said. He began to float in the air again, shortly followed by Erutan.

"Lets go." Erutan said. "The sooner we find Zain, the sooner we can kill him, and save the man who saved my life." Erutan told Majotte, who didn't disagree at all.

And just like that, another war had started. The earth wailed in pain as the toxins began to dig deeper into its core. The purple and black fluid seeped deeper into the roots and rocks, causing land to collapse, creating mighty tremors and earthquakes in some lands, while in others, the toxins in the air rose, causing massive storms to wipe out other civilizations.

Earth was ready to crumble beneath the warrior's feet, and now, they need to settle a score between each other...