Chapter 8

“Damn… this shipyard is bigger than I thought it was…”

Koji slowed to a stop, his chest heaving with exertion. He had never been the most athletic of people, even back on Earth. Now that he was having to do all this running around, he was starting to regret not taking part in more sporty after school activities. It did not help that the armor which the Order had given him was beginning to show its weight.

”How does Sylvia run around all day wearing stuff like this?” Koji panted. “Or anyone, for that matter?”

Koji’s mouth was dry and he longed for a drink, but that was an impossible dream at the moment. For now, the only thing he could do was keep going through this accursed maze of a shipyard and try to meet up with his fellow Order members.

Moreover, he had another reason to find Sylvia and the others. If that cloaked figure was working with the Magecroft Organization, then perhaps she would know more about how he had arrived in this world and what the true nature of his newfound powers was. At least, that was his hope. He did not have a lot to go on, only a distinctly Japanese farewell. But that was enough for Koji to start moving once again.

Tugging at the collar of his shirt, Koji continued to run between the walls of decommissioned vessels. Here and there, boxes of hammers, saws, and other tools served as a reminder that this place had been hastily vacated for the Order’s raid.

“Come on, Sylvia, where are you?” He muttered, feeling a stitch growing in his side.

He rounded a corner and was greeted by the sight of Sylvia’s circular shield lying in the middle of the path. It had black scorch marks near the center of the polished metal, but was otherwise intact. There was no sign of its owner.

Koji examined the area, hoping to find any clues to where Sylvia had gone. He did not find any, so he picked up the shield and decided to keep searching.

Along with keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of life, Koji also kept his ears pricked up for anything that might lead him to his fellow Order soldiers. He walked with the shield in his left hand, keeping his right hand up to channel his powers in case he had to make a snap decision or walked into an ambush.

He had not been walking for very long when he discovered something new. Around the next bend was a splash of red, staining the wooden planks of the walkway.

Koji approached the crimson stain and noted the coppery smell; it was blood, all right. And it was still fresh.

Thinking back to some of the films he had seen in his old life, Koji immediately began looking to see if whoever had left this bloodstain had also left a trail for him to follow. Sure enough, a small crooked line of red droplets started not a foot away.

Koji was glad that he had found a lead at last, and he picked up his pace, ignoring the discomfort this caused him. He hoped that the owner of this blood was not Sylvia. The thought of her being injured by anything upset him more than he figured it should, but he quickly put that thought out of his mind. They were fellow members of the Order, if not friends.

A wheezing groan caught Koji’s attention. There, propped up against a low fence, was one of the Order soldiers that had come with Koji and Sylvia on the boat. Koji could not remember his name presently, but he rushed over to help him all the same.

The man looked barely conscious, his eyelids fluttered as he drew in shallow, labored breaths. His armor looked as though it had been torn open like wrapping paper by some great blade. Blood pooled around his legs as he sat there, barely clinging on to consciousness.

The soldier’s eyes fixed themselves on Koji as he knelt down in front of him.

“Oh… it’s you…” The soldier managed. As he spoke a thin trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth.

“What happened?” Koji asked. He tried to find a way to try and staunch the wound, but it became apparent that the soldier’s injury was too great and too deep for Koji to be of any help. Only a miracle could save him now.

“Magic users…” The wounded soldier gasped. “They… caught us… by surprise. Took the rest… of us.”

”Where did they take them?” Koji demanded, feeling a tendril of fear rise up inside him. From his previous encounters with those who used magic, he knew that they were no strangers to killing members of the Order.

“Close by…” the soldier shakily raised his arm and pointed. “Found their hideout… too many of them… get… help...”

The man’s eyes closed and his head tilted downwards. Koji was taken aback and he sighed before gritting his teeth. He had seen more death in the past three days than he had all the rest of his life when living in Japan. He had to make sure that the same fate did not befall Sylvia.

Standing up, Koji found the place that his comrade had pointed to. It was a crevasse between two hulks, just wide enough for a single person to fit through. It was dark and foreboding, but Koji refused to let his misgivings deter him. His entire team was depending on him. Sylvia was depending on him. And that gave him strength.

Koji crept to the side of the opening, as approaching it head on would only reveal himself should anybody be watching. Inch by inch, he poked his head out and looked inside.

It was a dimly lit tunnel-like passage, the walls made of wood that looked like it had been torn from the ships around Koji. That made sense, he mused. If it had not been pointed out to him, Koji would not have thought to look in here at all.

There did not appear to be a watchman or sentry of any kind, but Koji stayed alert. The golden glow given off by his power would only serve to give him away if there was someone lurking in the dark, so instead he drew out the short sword that he had been issued and gripped it tightly. Having a weapon in hand did make Koji feel better, even though he had close to no training with it. Being armed also had not helped the soldier outside, Koji reminded himself.

Moving as quietly as he could, Koji tip-toed through the wooden tunnel. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he was able to see watery footprints on the ground, which he took to mean that someone had been through here recently.

About two dozen steps afterwards, Koji reached the end of the passage. It opened up into the inside of a beached freighter. He could see two people on one side of the space at work around some setup that looked like a man-sized fountain made of some faintly iridescent white material. One of them came over with a clay jug of water and poured it into the fountain, causing it to burble and splutter before it accepted the water and began cycling it like a normal fountain. The other worker then approached with a wooden crate that was full of neatly stacked glass bottles. These he then began to fill with the liquid from the fountain. As this was happening, the first worker went to refill the jug with seawater.

Koji hoped that they would speak, maybe give away where they were keeping his fellow Order members, but these two did not say a single word, working on their project in total silence.

Koji could see a door on the left wall, opposite to the two workers at the fountain. Staying in the shadows as best he could, Koji sidled to this door and peered in between it and the wall.

Inside was another room, this one occupied by eight people who were all armed with either crossbows or blades. They were all standing in a rough circle, and in the center of that circle were four familiar people.

It was the rest of Koji’s companions. All four of them were tied up securely and kneeling on the damp wooden floor. Koji sighed with relief; they were still alive, then. Now he had to come up with a plan to free them.

But before he could formulate a plan, someone began to speak in the other room.

“You will not get away with this, interloper,” Sylvia’s voice rang out. “Though you have won a temporary victory, the High Lords of the Order know we came here. If we do not return, they will send an army and tear this entire shipyard apart until they find you.”

A man dressed in a sea captain’s uniform stepped forward. He held a cutlass in his right hand and bottle in his left. It took Koji a moment to realize it was an identical bottle to the ones that the two people at the fountain had been filling. Koji instinctively knew that this man was the leader.

“You and your snake oil have no place in Behalan,” Sylvia continued. “You cannot sell your poison here any longer. You cannot deter destiny any longer; we will drive all your kind from within the walls!”

The man in the sea captain uniform bent down to look into Sylvia’s defiant eyes. “And who do you think’s going to do that, lass? You and your little team? Please, magic is the true power in this world, and if you think you can just prohibit it, you’re just as much of a fool as your so-called High Lords.”

Sylvia glared up at her captor. “We are not afraid of you. We have a power beyond magic, that you cannot hope to match in battle.”

“Yes, yes, your Magicide crystals,” The leader said, waving the bottle in his hand around dismissively. “Those are certainly a thorn in the side, but rest assured we will not be stopped just because you can stop spells from being cast. For thirteen years you and your Order had held Behalan in a death grip. It’s time that it was free once more.”

“Free?” Sylvia scoffed. “You would call that free? People having to pay for basic necessities while the Magecroft Organization grows fat and successful? Never.”

Sylvia’s captor sighed. “It’s clear to me that we are at an impasse. You are too indoctrinated by the Order’s High Lords and their dogma, and I grow weary of trying to convince you otherwise. It’s time that you found out just what crossing us means.”

The leader gave the bottle to his closest associate and ran his now free hand along the blade of his sword. “Magicide stops spells, yes. But what I’ve got here is good old sharpened steel. And you know what? That’ll do just fine for you. Any last words?”

He said this and raised his cutlass slowly above his head. But before he could swing it downwards, a burst of blinding golden light blew the doors off their hinges and showered the inhabitants of the room with splinters and metal shards. Everyone immediately turned their attention to this new disturbance.

Koji stood there in the blown apart doorway, his body surrounded by a halo of warm, buttery light that radiated off him like heat from a bonfire and lit up the previously dim space.

“Any last words, you say?” Koji growled, raising his hand as a shaft of energy coalesced in his grip, forming what looked like a quarterstaff. He hefted Sylvia’s shield in front of his chest and spun his weapon around himself, leaving glowing trails in the air. “I think that’s my line!”