To Find the Infection

Chapter 16: Departure

Again, all was silent. The Earth was slowly being enveloped by a strange black aura. The aura distorted and eradicated all of the clouds in the sky. Any airborne material, including human lives, were immediately destroyed as a result of the gathering power that the juggernaut was building up. Majotte hovered well above the atmosphere of the Earth now, miles from the battle, but could still sense the power of Erutan and Zain.

Majotte looked up at his energy ball. He felt as if something or someone had hit him in the back of his head. He smiled, and looked back down onto the unsuspecting Zain.

"Alright," Majotte said, "although I can sum up more power, this needs to be here, and this needs to be done now." Suddenly, the energy that hovered in the sky began to form itself into a ball in his hands. Majotte shot his hands towards his sides, and the ball fell crashing down on top of him. It did not hurt him however. Infact, it looked as though it was a barrier. Some of the devilish energy was sucked into Majotte's being. Suddenly, his mutant appearance grew in size. His tail stretched out longer than ever. Most of his spikes receeded back into his skin, but the ones that remained became thicker, taking the spots that the old spikes would have taken. The horns on his head shot straight up, along with his hair. His hair stretched down just barely beyond his shoulders. Finally, red fur grew around his chest and tail. He truly looked like a beast. Erutan gasped at the vicious sight.

"My final attack, and all of this will be over." Majotte's voice boomed out. The black and purple energy ball that surrounded Majotte suddenly calmed down. It began to glow gold, and more spherical. It turned into a solid mass, and to Zain's horror, began to make a slow free fall towards the Woodling ruins.

Majotte looked down towards the ruins. He could see his target: Zain. The ball of energy began to pick up speed, but was still a far distance away from the ground. The sphere again began to cover the sky, and shaded the entire ruins home and more, as it got closer. Majotte was visible inside the sphere. His arms and legs where attatched to the inside of the ball. It was as if he was steering the ball, giving it energy to fall faster. The ground below began to make large ripples around Zain's body. A crater began to form around Zain, him being in the center of the attack. The center of the crater didn't crumble with the ground around it however.

Majotte had lost his vision. Everything became blurs of color as he sped down towards his target. Finally, with a rush of power building up inside of him, he powered the ball to shoot even faster towards Zain. The ball suddenly expanded from the power boost, engulfing the entire region in a large shadow.

"Now you can't run." Majotte thought in his mind.

"Good lord." Erutan panicked. "That thing will destroy us all. What can I do to escape this attack?" As he thought, he felt another voice inside of him. It struggled to speak, but failed. Erutan pushed the voice aside, looking around. Only feet away from him, lay Rahk, injured, but struggling to Zain's side. Erutan quickly rushed towards Rahk, only thinking about surviving.

"Heads up Rahk!" Erutan shouted. He closed in on Rahk, who had covered his body with his wings, not trusting Erutan's hasty approach. Erutan grabbed Rahk by the waist, and shot back and away from the immediate impact area; the area that would feel the greatest effects of the attack.

Erutan landed on a cliffside, and set Rahk beside him, and began to stare at the large golden sphere head towards Zain. "Brace yourself Rahk." Erutan whispered.

Zain looked straight up at the energy attack. "Oh my god.." he muttered to himself, while a tear began to slowly fall down his cheek. "I'm going to die." he added. "The only person who could stop that was Zutan, and Erutan is too far away to get to him on time." Zain thought. He wiped the tear off of his face with his arm. Zain floated into the air, searching for anywhere to escape the attack. "Nowhere to go." he said. He looked on at Majotte, filled with a sudden rage. "If I'm going to go, you're coming with me Majotte!" he shouted. He covered his body with his arms, making a cross shape, while he curled his legs upward. His body released lightning as he began to charge up his power. His energy surged throughout his veins, flowing with every slow heartbeat Zain had. Zain's body began to glow white as the energy collected inside. "Maybe combined with Majotte's own energy, I won't be the only one to die." Zain thought.

"Zain's power is growing? This can't be right." Majotte muttered, still speeding towards Zain. "Somehow, it's equal to my attack! Impossible!" he shouted, voice unheard, not even by himself. "I need...more...POWER!" he roared. He shouted, and the ball grew even larger, and began to speed up even faster towards Zain's body. The ball was only inches away from Zain's body, ready to make a direct impact. "You're dead!" Majotte shouted.

Zain felt the warmth of the ball engulf him. As soon as he felt it, he stretched his body limbs in all directions. His entire body shot out energy. The energy he released was glowing white with Zain's very lifeforce. The ball haulted from the energy attack Zain released.

Majotte gasped at the energy release. "He didn't! No!" he shouted in fear.

The energy ball and Zain's life force collided, and began to ignite like wildfire. The golden energy ball exploded, engulfing Majotte and Zain with it. The explosion ripped through the area. The shockwave released was massive, trees bent on an angle from the power. Erutan and Rahk fell back from the attack, but didn't move much. Suddenly, all fell quiet. Flames covered the attack area. Golden flames erupted from leftover energy. The smoke quickly blew away, thanks to the gold flame and additional waves of energy that were released from the attack. Zain was nowhere to be seen, nor was Majotte. Not a trace of their beings were around.

The ground rippled, but still, not a sound could be heard. Everything was quiet. Finally, in a split second, everything was back to normal. The trees which were eradicated or blown away from the impact were back in their roots, flowers were blooming on the grass, and birds were chirping and fluttering around in the air. All the flames had vanished.

All that remained from the attack was a small hole, about five feet in diameter. Two injured beings shot out from the hole, landing hard on the floor. Majotte and Zain were quiet. Majotte's body twitched, very pale, and with almost no energy remaining.

Erutan and Rahk were a distance away. They were spared from the attack. Erutan looked towards Rahk, who flew a bit farther than he. He saw a body slowly rise from the ground. It was Majotte, but he was nowhere near a healthy condition. His body still smoked from the attack.

Majotte mustered the ability to stand on his feet. He stumbled slightly, but managed to get up. His body had reverted back to normal. He looked straight behind him. He looked on at the hole in the ground. Matter was swirling around in the hole, like a portal. He smiled, and looked towards Erutan, who was standing on the cliffside.

"This is another dimension." Majotte said. "I won't be dead, but I will have to live here for awhile, until the Earth calms down. This hole can take me anywhere, I won't know until I get there. It happened when Zain's energy collided with mine. I was aware when I increased my power that the Earth could not handle it. The Earth has it's own backup system, so does every other planet out there. Once a being, or beings surpass the limit of power that the Earth can take, it kicks into some kind of emergency sequence that expells all the powerful forces involved with the massive energy signal, in this case, Zain and I." Majotte said, finishing the Earth's explanation. He took a breath, legs still shaking from the power of the attack, and continued on.

"Either way, when all of this was happening, Zain and I cracked open a portal to a new world, and, unless I want to die, thanks to the Earth's backup system, that's the place I will have to live for awhile. I'm sure that it's the same for Zain." Majotte looked down at the ground, his face was mixed with feelings of anger and fustration. "Althought my goal went unfulfilled, I'll have to leave immediately."

Majotte creeped up to the whole. He held his breath. "See ya later Erutan." he finished. He body suddenly fell into the hole, and dissapeared.

"Majotte!" Erutan shouted. He lept down, off of the cliff, and headed for the hole. Erutan's body fell limp from energy loss, but he quickly stood back up, and ran up to the hole. He looked into it, but Majotte was nowhere to be seen. Erutan tried to touch the hole, but it suddenly dissapeared as well, the ground below it unsettled. Erutan sighed, and looked around to see no damage to the area. Zain lie a few feet from the hole. Erutan walked up to Zain's mangled body. His body was pale, like Majottes, and had absolutely no energy. Blood streamed down his forehead, and colored his clothes. A leg was ripped clean off of the body, spilling blood everywhere around it.

"He won't survive like this." A voice boomed inside Erutan's ear.

"I know." Erutan replied. He raised his hand towards Zain's being. Suddenly, he felt more energy escape his body, but for a good cause. He approached Zain's ear, and whispereed, "This is all I can do for you. I hope it helps. Good-bye Zain, I hope we meet again sometime." he spoke.

The voice boomed inside Erutan's head yet again. "You must return to where you found me and rest, we have much to catch up and work on."

"Okay." Erutan thought. He caught sight of something in the woods of the ruins. He squinted his eyes on the shadow. It was a person, or at least what Erutan thought to be a person. The thing had a black cloak on, with a hood that covered its face. It then ran away into the woods. Erutan brushed this aside with a smile on his face. "Okay, take me back to the shrine." Erutan thought. In an instant, a powerful wind erupted around Erutan's body, causing it to dissapear immediately.

Rahk grunted as he stood up. He stumbled forward and off of the cliff, but with all of his remaining energy, managed to float before landing hard on the ground. He felt Erutan's energy scatter into the area, and vanish.

"Damnit, I wanted to fight you one last time." Rahk muttered. "Thanks for watching out for me, hope we meet real soon." He flew toward Zain to help revive him. He noticed that blood continue to flow from Zain's missing leg. "Sorry Kid, I wish I could have been stronger to help out." He said, grunted as he plucked a feather from one of his wings. He placed it on Zain's leg, causing it to glow. "You're stronger than I thought." he chuckled. Zain's leg suddenly grew back, with a new feature: A feather shaped scar that stretched across his knee.

"Let's go." Rahk said, grabbing Zain by the waist. He flew upward, and out of the ruins, and towards the town where all of the fighting began.

Rahk walked down the hallway of the inn he and Zain stayed in. An entire day had already passed from the fight, and Zain was still motionless. Rahk walked back into his and Zain's room, but saw something near Zain. A woman sat on a chair next to Zain, stroking his hair. He knew immediately who it was.

"Zain's mother." Rahk thought. He blinked, and her body was gone. He rubbed his eyes, but nothing appeared. He looked at Zain, who began to stuggle opening his eyes.

"Hey, I'm going to go get a drink at the bar across from this inn. I have to take care of some business, so when you wake up, come to me at the bar." Rahk begna to walk out of the room, grinning. He turned around, and shouted back, "I have something for you!" and walked away.

Zain looked up. Gwenalin was still on the chair besides him, looking at and smiling at him.

"You don't have long. The Earth cannot support you for any longer." she spoke.

"No, I must stay, it's my home." he replied. "I'd rather die."

"No, I do not want you to die. You are the last of the Woodlings, but you are something more: You are special, you will live.

"Yes." Zain replied, finally understanding. Words began to form inside of his head, as he spoke them aloud. "...when you wake, come to the Tavern..." he muttered to himself. Zain walked out of the door to the room, and turned around, only to see that Gwenalin had dissapeared.

Zain's energy had returned. He walked down to the tavern, where the foul odor of drunks and beer never escaped. He spotted Rahk at the counter, drinking another beer, staring into the wall. He tugged one of Rahk's feathers, causing Rahk to look down at Zain.

"Rahk, I have come to say good-bye. I cannot live here, the Earth is unable to support me. I have little time, so farewell my companion." Zain began to walk away from Rahk.

Rahk grabbed Zain's shoulder and chuckled. "Wait, there's something I wanted to give you before you left! Here." Rahk told Zain. He reached into his pocket, and took out a golden pendant. It sparkled, with a green gem inside of it, glowing. "It's suppose to bring the wearer eternal peace, but hasn't worked for me. Maybe it will work for you." he added. He handed Zain the pendant, then turned back towards the wall.

"Do you think that this is over, that Majotte is gone for good.?" Rahk asked Zain.

"I'm not sure." Zain replied. "I don't think Majotte would have died so easily. He will be back." Zain added.

With a large gulp, Rahk finished his mug of beer. "C'mon Zain." he said. Rahk flipped a golden coin to the bartender as they walked out of the wooden doors. It was already close to nighttime, shadows covered much of the grass and dirt.

Rahk looked down the parth where the nighttime dark began to cover the woods. He turned around to Zain, who blocked out a setting sun in the West. "Hey kid," Rahk spoke to Zain, "take care." Rahk stretched his hand out for another handshake.

Zain moved his hand to Rahk's, and both shook. "I hope we see each other again." Zain spoke.

Rahk chuckled. "We will!" he said. He gave Zain a thumbs up, and began to walk into the night woods, his image dissapearing behind the trees and shrubs.

Zain looked towards the setting sun, finally happy. "Time for me to go myself." he thought. A rip silently opened in front of his body. With no hesitation in his body, Zain began to walk into the rip. He strapped the pendant onto his neck, held onto it with one hand, and allowed the rip to engulf his entire body. With a brilliant flash, Zain dissapeared.

End Part 1

I would appreciate some reviews for the story, and I'm finally glad to have finished the first.

Also, no, the story isn't over.

Thanks for reading so far, and prepare for the next chapter very soon.