Chapter 4: The Harbinger of Death

Throughout the ages, there have been two warriors of incomprehensible strength. This power was bestowed upon them by the two great gods, each generation a new warrior arises. With either the power of Light or Darkness, together, these warriors have the power to vanquish all who stand against them.

It was early in the morning and I had just woken up halfway down a cliff. I guess my sleeping habits hadn’t changed at all. I rolled down the cliff in my sleep, I had almost landed in the lake. That would’ve been bad since I don’t know how to swim. Once I had woken up, I decided to go back to the town. I needed to learn more about it, I also needed to check in with Michael in case he had any more problems. I thought I should ask him about this world since there’s only one other person who knows about my secret. Once I headed to the store, I noticed everything seemed much quieter than last time. The streets were empty and no one was outside walking. I arrived at the store to find Michael setting up shop once again, he had replaced the previously shattered glass. There were many shelves set up in his small store. They contained small plastic bags with contents unknown to me. I knocked at the door and Michael told me to come in.

“Mistery, is that you?” he asked me

“Yeah, how’s it going?” I asked him

“Everything is perfect, the police arrived and arrested the two men.”

“Arrested?” I asked him, I needed to know more about this world so I thought I should begin to ask more questions.

“Yes. In this world, anyone who breaks the law is arrested. They are taken to a confinement cell and kept under watch.”

“Oh, so it’s like Aztara,” I said to myself. Aztara is a high-security prison located on Zertz, the smallest continent. Because Neptarians are born with special abilities a few of them go rogue and start to attack innocent people. They are taken into Aztara where they are kept for some time depending on their offense.

“Thanks to you I can continue to run this store. If you want you may have anything you like,” he told me

“Anything I like?”

“What kind of things are there?” I asked him. He handed me a small bag which he called ‘potato chips’ I opened the bag and ate one. I quickly ran outside, my mouth was on fire. I began to spit out flames, I had no idea what I had just consumed but it was like a volcano had erupted in my mouth.

“What the hell is this?” I asked him still trying to cool down my tongue. Michael began to look worried, he brought me a glass of water and told me to drink it. Neptarians don’t generally drink water, so I was confused at what he was asking of me.

“Why would I drink that?” I asked him

“It’ll help cool your tongue down,” he told me. After hearing that I quickly took the water and drank it all. The burning sensation had disappeared.

“Are you trying to kill me!?” I yelled at him. He began to laugh at me

“I’m sorry, here on Earth we enjoy food that’s spicy. Spicy food causes that burning sensation, many of us love it.” I then realized humans are a bunch of crazy masochists. Why would anyone enjoy having the inside of their mouth on fire?

“I’d rather not take any more of your wares,” I said to him. Instead, I restored to ask questions about this planet.

“Can I ask some questions about this world?” I asked him

“Sure, I’ll try to answer them as best as I can,” he said

“Where can I find a spaceship to take me back to my world?”

“I’m afraid that us humans haven’t built such a device, we can hardly send people to our neighboring planet Mars, and even then it’ll take you around seven months.”

“Do any humans know of alien existence?”

“Not that I’m aware of, you’re the first we’ve seen.”

“What is that device in your hand?”

“This is a phone, it allows us to communicate with other people throughout the world. We can also look up information on various subjects.” This ‘phone’ might be a useful device to have while I’m on this world, I can discreetly find out more information on this world.

“Where can I get a phone?”

“They usually sell them in the next town over, there is a huge city just beyond the mountain range. They are usually expensive though so if you don’t have money I’m afraid you won’t be able to get one.”

“Where can I get ‘money,’” I had learned of this world’s currency before, I knew that they use a special type of paper to trade goods, however, I still had no clue about how to obtain any.

“You can try to get a job. A job is a place where you work and eventually, your boss pays you for your service. I could give you a job if you like, we only have one other person working here,”

“When can I start.”

“You can start at any time, just tell me when you would like to,” Then at that moment Janet walked in the store, she seemed to be in a rush.

“Hey boss, I’m afraid I won’t make it tonight. I have an important test next week that I have to study for,” she said to Michael. I then assumed she was the other person working here.

“Hello Janet,” I said to her

“Jake? You work here too?” she asked me

“He’s going to be starting today, right Jake?” Michael said, tugging on my shirt. I pulled him away for a few seconds and told him

“I need to you keep this a secret, she seems to be catching on that I’m not from around here. It could cause problems.”

“How do you even know her?” he asked me

“Once I crash landed she was the one who found me, many things happened and I ended up going to ‘school’ with her,”

“You go to school now?” he asked me

“Uh ... yeah?”

“Then you should go right now, school is about to start,” he quickly said to me.

“That’s an everyday thing?”

“Yes! Now go!”

As we finished our private conversation Janet signaled to me, I followed her and we began to walk up the hill.

“This is great. Now we get to work together,” she said to me

“Yes, I’ll be fun ... I guess,” I told her. The school was close to the ‘convenience store’ or so Michael had called it, once we got to the top of the hill, we entered the school and sat down at our previous seats. Once the teacher arrived class had begun, we had to find a partner around the room and finish a ‘worksheet’ Janet without hesitation came and sat next to me. I was glad since anyone else would probably not have ended well at all. We had to do various ‘math’ problems. Once I was handed the sheet, I realized I couldn’t read a single thing on it. Everything was gibberish.

“Are you alright with this?” Janet had asked me

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” I told her. Once time was up, we were told to turn in our papers to the front of the room, Janet took my paper and looked it over.

“You didn’t write a single thing down,” she said to me. I thought I had been busted, I had no excuse for this

“Are you really that lazy?” she asked me

“Huh?”

“I mean seriously, you could’ve just asked me for the answers at least,” she said to me

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I was just tired that’s all,” I said. I managed to bluff my way out of that one, thank god for her extreme naivete. She then quickly filled out every answer before turning the paper in.

“What’s your last name?’ She asked me

“What’s a last name?” Once again she had her piercing stare, she was on to me.

“Very funny,” she said. She turned in both papers and sat back down next to me. For the next couple of hours, we all sat down at the same tables listening to one man talk to us about events that I have never even heard of. After that long and boring session, we once again headed off to lunch. I sat at the same table we were at yesterday. Bill then came up to me

“What? You want to fight again?” I asked him, he looked terrified.

“Can I sit here with you,” he asked me

“Sure, go ahead,” I told him. After Janet had gotten her lunch, she walked towards the table. Once catching sight of Bill sitting next to me she quickly ran up to the table and began to yell at him

“What are you doing here!”

“He’s already fought you before, leave him alone!” she yelled at him. Bill kept trying to calm her down but to no avail, he began to look at me as if he wanted me to calm her down for him.

“Janet, let him speak,” I told her

“But he’s the one who tried to fight you,” she said to me

“It’s fine, I get that a lot. You have no idea how many fights I’ve been in,” Janet then sat down and we began to listen to what Bill had to say to us.

“I wouldn’t be asking this of you if it wasn’t urgent,” he said

“Just get to the point already,” Janet said to him

“You two know how there’s a gang running this town currently right?” he asked us. I didn’t know what a ‘gang’ was so I just nodded my head and pretended to know.

“That gang has been around for years now, what’s so different now?” Janet asked him

“May and I owed them a huge debt, however, since I couldn’t pay the debt back they kidnapped May. I don’t know what they plan to do with her but I need to get her back as fast as possible,” he said to us

“Why are you asking us though? How can we help?” Janet asked

“I have first-hand experience on Jake’s strength, I have never been punched as strong as I was by him, ever,” he said, staring at me.

“It might be true that Jake can fight, but that doesn’t mean that he can take on a whole gang,” Janet said

“I have a question,” I said to them

“What’s ‘kidnapping?’” I had been listening to this whole conversation without knowing the meaning of that word. If I was going to end up helping, I had to learn as much as I could about the situation.

“Kidnapping is when someone steals a person and threatened them with possible murder,” Bill said to me

“Geez, just how clueless are you,” Janet said laughing at me.

“Okay, and what’s a gang?” I asked them

“A gang is a group of criminals, they will do anything in their power to get what they want,” Bill said to me. If that was the case, then I might’ve fought them before while protecting Michael’s shop. I’d rather not have them find out about that though.

“It’s alright, I’ll help you,” I said to him. Janet began to look at me in disappointment

“I guess I can’t help it. May and I might not be too close anymore, but still, I don’t want her to die,” she said.

“Alright, I need you two to meet me at the plaza after school. After that, we’ll come up with a plan,”

After that chat we had with Bill, school seemed like a breeze. I stopped by the nurse’s office before meeting up with Janet and Bill.

“Hello, is anyone here?” I said while knocking on the door

“Yes, please come in,” the nurse said to me

“I have a bit of a problem, I need to fight off a ‘gang,’” I said to her

“Why would you need to do that?” she asked me, she seemed worried. I had no idea what this ‘gang’ was capable of, but I was excited to find out.

“I heard that one of the students was ‘kidnapped,’ I want to go save her before she gets into anymore problem,” I told her

“I have to warn you that, the gang is ruthless. They will kill anyone who stands against them without hesitation,” she warned me

“I’ve already fought off two members, they all wear the same purple clothing don’t they?” I asked her

“Yes, but how did you manage to defeat them both?” she asked me looking more worried than ever

“I am incredibly quick, here let me show you,” I told her. I pointed to the window behind her and ran outside as fast as I could. Her jaw dropped and she began to panic again. Once I returned inside, she gave me a mask.

“Take this, I don’t want any of the students finding out about this,” she said to me. I left the office and ran to the plaza.

I saw Bill and Janet standing around waiting for me.

About time, what took you so long?” Janet said to me. She appears much nicer to me than she ever is to Bill. She always speaks to me with a smile on her face, but she practically yells at Bill anytime he even opens his mouth.

“Sorry I had to stop by the nurse,” I told her

“Alright, here’s the plan. We sneak into their base and look for May. Once we spot her I will take out anyone around her, after that you two grab her and run,” he said

“And how exactly do you plan to ‘take them out?’” Janet asked, Bill then pulled a gun out of his shirt.

“I never thought I would have to use this, but in this case, I have no choice,” he said. As the sun set, we walked to the edge of town where there was an abandoned garage. Inside were nearly 20 men sitting around drinking. They were all wearing the same uniform as the two I had previously fought off. Bill pulled out his gun and pointed it at one of the men. Janet then whispered to him

“Idiot, are you trying to get us caught?” at that moment the man turned around and saw us. He ran towards us with a dagger. He swung his weapon at Bill. Bill was cut across the arm, he fell to the ground and began to bleed. The man then turned to me and punched me across the face. I felt no force from the punch, but I still pretended to fall down. Janet became worried and began to panic