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Chapter Two: Strange Days, Stranger Company

The rain had stopped as Koza entered the town gate. Inside, he wandered around in amazement, wondering how something that looked so small on the outside was so large on the inside, much larger than his hometown. Some of the people smiled and waved as he went by. He returned their kindness with and awkward smile and wave. It took him a while to get used to the kind gestures of the people. He was so used to being shunned, yet these people acted as if he was their equal, not a monster…

Stopping to rest on a nearby bench, Koza watched the people go by. A few children that appeared to be playing tag ran by the bench he was on, laughing the whole way. Koza couldn’t help but smile and laugh quietly to himself. It reminded him of how he and Adrian used to play at night when the whole town was asleep. He was so focused on the memory, that he didn’t see one of the children come up to him, eyeing his rapier.

Koza snapped to when he felt something pull on his sword. He looked down to see a child of about four pulling at it. He simply smiled and reached his hand down to stop the child, who looked up at him.

“You’re interested in my sword are you?” Koza said gently. The child simply nodded his head.

“Well, I can’t let you see it. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself. Besides, this is the most important thing I own. I wouldn’t let you see it even if you were old enough.”

The child seemed to half understand, and ran off after his playmate. Koza sighed and leaned back against the bench again. This place was so different from his hometown. It was such a nice place… but he really wanted to go out and see more of the world. He decided he would come back to visit again some day. For now, he got up and stretched. After one final look around the town, he made his way towards the rear gate.

After exiting, he heard something to his left. Turning his head to see the source of the noise, he found nothing. Tilting his head in confusion, he started to walk around the outside of the town wall. As he continued on, the noise got louder and louder. It sounded like… somebody was… hitting something? No, there was more than one… Maybe two?

Koza came across two men who appeared to be in their twenties that were wearing dark green outfits with the word “ARK” in bright, red letters on the back of their shirts. Both had a katana like sword at their sides. They had cornered a girl around his own age. Koza tried to stay just out of sight as he listened…

“Come on girlie, we know you have it. Now fork it over!” said one of them.

“Never! You’d better back off!” snapped the girl.

“Heh! Tough talk coming from a pipsqueak like you.”

One of the men then smacked her to the ground. She coughed and struggled back up, only to get knocked back down. Koza had had just about enough.

“Hey! You two! Back off!”

“Huh?” Both of them turned around to see Koza facing them.

“Well now, what do we have here? Go play somewhere else kid. This doesn’t concern you,” said one of the men.

“Now hold on a minute Roy,” the other said to his partner. "Look at him. The kid has a sword.” He pointed to Koza’s rapier as he talked.

“Looks like the kid knows how to fight then, huh Trent?” Roy said, with a bit of cockiness in his tone. The two then turned their attention to Koza, forgetting about the girl behind them that was still unconscious on the ground.

“So kid, you want to play hero do ya?” Trent said while taking a step forward. “I’ll bet you don’t even know why we cornered her like that do ya? It’s simple really. Ya see, she stole something of ours, and we were ordered to get it back, by force if necessary.”

Koza listened, but hardly cared about their excuses. They weren’t going to hurt anybody as long as he was around, that was for sure. Koza drew his rapier and took a fighting stance.

“Psh. Look at ‘dis kid.” Roy mocked. “Thinks he can mess with adults does he? Well I’ll show him!” And with that, he drew his own sword and charged head on at Koza, who simply stood his ground and watched Roy carefully. Right when Roy was about three feet away, Koza zoomed ahead so fast that if you’d blinked you would’ve missed it, appearing behind Roy with his rapier out to the side, as if he had struck with it.

Roy stopped cold in his tracks, with a blank look on his face. Koza simply took a fighting stance again and faced Trent, who called out:

“Roy! Quit your standin’ around and get that kid!”

No response.

“Roy! Ya hear what I said?”

Again, Roy said nothing.

“Roy!”

At this, a slash mark appeared over Roy’s chest as he fell to the ground face-first.
He laid there, motionless. Trent stared, mouth agape. How the hell had a kid just taken Roy out? And in one shot no less?

“Wh… who the hell are you? What are you?” Trent stammered.

Staring back, Koza calmly said, “Name’s Koza. Now you want to end up like your buddy there, or are you gonna leave her alone?”

“Uh… I was ordered to… I mean…”

As Trent struggled to find the words that eluded him, Koza shouted, “Times up!”

Before he even had time to think about what to do, Trent was hit in the same fashion as Roy just a few moments before. He too fell to the ground with a gash across his chest, unmoving.

Koza let out a sigh and put his rapier away. He walked over and kneeled down next to the girl and looked her over for any serious injuries. He couldn’t believe those two would attack somebody, let alone a kid. Even if she had stolen something of theirs, that’s no reason to go to this extent… Koza gently set her up and leaned her unconscious body against the town wall.

She had long black hair that was styled back, and wore a white shirt with a loose black jacket over it, and black jeans. On her back were two small katana like swords, much like smaller versions of what the two goons carried. Could that be what she had stolen from them? And if so, for what purpose? As his mind pondered these thoughts, she started to awaken.

“Nnh… huh…?” She looked up at Koza with her eyes half open. Her eyes were a shade of off white, which seemed unusual. After a moment, shook her head and looked at the two goons that were on the ground. She looked back and forth between them and Koza a few times before standing up and dusting herself off.

“Did you…?” she asked as she looked over at the fallen attackers.

“Yeah. Anyway, are you alright?” Koza asked.

“I’m fine. Thanks for your help. I’m Tera,” she said cheerfully.

“Name’s Koza. And don’t mention it.”

He looked back at them for a moment before turning back to Tera.

“They said that you stole something from them, and that’s why they were after you. Is that true?” He asked.

“Ha! The only things I ‘stole’ were mine in the first place!” she snapped, making Koza take a step back.

“Wait, ‘things’?” he questioned.

“Yes, things. These to be exact.” She turned around and showed off the two swords hanging on her back.

“You see,” she said turning back around, “I ran into one of their goons one day that tried to steal anything valuable I had, so I let him have it with these here,” she said while pointing to the swords.

“They must have thought that the swords were what made it so easy to take that guy out, so they set their sights on them. BIG mistake…” she continued. “These things are my prized possessions, though I don’t need them to take anybody out with! One day, a whole bunch of ARK goons showed up and stole them from me, so naturally I went to take them back, which is why they are after me now.”

“I get it…” Koza said, nodding his head. “Well then, if that’s true, why didn’t you just beat those two up?” he asked, motioning towards the fallen ARK goons.

“Well… I didn’t really want to cause any commotion out here, what with the town and all,” she explained.

“Hm… Makes sense to me,” Koza said while nodding his head again. “But tell me, what does the ‘ARK’ stand for on their outfits?”

“It doesn’t really stand for anything I don’t think… Then again, I really don’t care. They’re some sort of top secret organization obsessed with world domination or something,” Tera said. Koza thanked her for the info and went on his way.

A few minutes later, he was back on the open road. Hearing something behind him, he stopped and looked back to see Tera following him. He turned around fully.

“What is it? You need something?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t mind if I tagged along would you?” she responded.

Koza blinked and said, “You want to come along with me?“ Tera seemed to hesitate a little before nodding her head. The question had caught him off guard, and Koza had to think about that one for a minute. Did he really want somebody along with him that had an organization like ARK after her? Then again… it was lonely traveling around all alone…

“Ah… what the hell. Sure, why not?” Koza said finally. Tera’s face lit up and she ran over and gave him a big hug, making Koza blush a little. He cleared his throat and she let go. With that, they both turned and faced the path before them, and headed off again.




Next chapter: Off on the Road to Nowhere