Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Capricious Infection ❯ Act 9: Behind the Looking Glass ( Chapter 9 )

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Capricious Infection
Act 9: Behind the Looking Glass
By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp
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“They are?” Rezzi asked, slightly shocked at the matter. When she thought about it, a realization came to mind. ‘So, it’s really happened…Just like capriciouscarnage said…’

A vivid flashback infiltrated her senses of a prior conversation that the two of them had over the phone. Even back then, their conversations were limited when their actual voices were involved. The mysterious, gruff man liked to keep his true identity masked and preferred that his conversations be kept to mere instant messages or e-mails.

“In one human year from now, everyone you know will die. First will come people of your age, then the very ones who prophesized it from the beginning. All ties to events of the past will be severed and the world will be plunged into darkness. I’ll be counting down this even, and constantly remind you of your world’s own end, just to be a pretentious dick about it.’ capriciouscarnage would continue to play this game with her, and pick at her sanity while performing his destined job at being an informant to her world’s demise. The cards had to be played just right, and that would be his aim.

“Are you sure this is true? You’re not just making all of it up, are you? Because that would be a horrible thing to do.” Rezzi replied. There were enough false prophets out there who had miscalculated the end of the world prematurely and proven themselves as laughing stocks. Now, this guy was saying things so similar to what others have claimed that it was hard to even take him seriously.

“It’s all true. You should thank me for helping you out,” such an ungrateful girl. Honestly, why did he have to work with such stubborn creatures?

“I don’t see how you know that. Anything can happen in a year.” There was just something about this story that seemed all too fake. She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that it was supposed to happen in a year, or that it came from a sarcastic asshole like the one that she was talking to. Surely, such a story had to be off.

“Oh, you can’t avoid this,” he was amused at her disbelief. It only showed her ignorance and refusal of the end. Typical.

“Stop playing around,” Rezzi warned. None of this was funny and if he was teasing her, then he could gladly drop his façade.

“It’s not a joke, dumbass. You should be happy that I am taking these valuable moments of my life telling you something like this. Now, go and prepare for it.” Did she think this was a joke? Stupid human. How dare she question the truth! Either she would learn or die from not being prepared and her existence was too crucial to just be passed off.

“How do I do that?” How did you truly prepare for the end of the world?

“Figure it out,” the male snapped and hung up the phone in the blind girl’s face. Rezzi pulled the device away and narrowed her eyes at it with a pouty frown.

“Whatever killed the priestesses killed everyone in the high school,” Ringo stated. There was no doubt about it. They had similar wounds and undoubtedly used the same sharp weapon to cut them up or stab them in various ways.

“The prophecies are coming true. I just wanted to tell you about everything that’s been going on.” So far, Lannad had thought of herself as the only one to truly understand the chaos and carnage that was taking place. Of all of the people involved, she had the knowledge of the legend behind the Grand High Messiah, and knew the most about it.

“Tell me. I’d like to try and figure everything out. Maybe we can prevent a catastrophe. Maybe we can track the Grand High Messiah’s next moves.” As much as Lannad knew, Rezzi was a few steps ahead, given the information that Tarvos had given her, as well as her leads from capriciouscarnage. The situation was crystal clear to her, and her role in it was apparent. Oz was right. The world was ending, and they were the only ones to bear witness to it.

“I tried to do that by going to the shrine but…he killed everyone there, too,” Lannad noted, turning her head downward with a frown as her voice saddened on the last part of her sentence. Everyone around her was dying. It was more heart wrenching than any mass disaster she could have ever experienced, and it took a huge toll on her heartstrings.

“We don’t have any leads now,” Ringo informed, especially if the secret of Chaos’ location was sealed within one of the dead priestesses.

Digging in her pocket, Lannad pulled out the large feather she’d found earlier. “I just found this feather.” She showed the object to Rezzi, who placed to fingers on her glasses, adjusting them as she bent over and squinted, trying to make out what it was. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead. If it helps solve this case then I want to know about it,” the Libra commented. As much as she knew, Rezzi truly did want to help all of her human friends. It might be the end of the world, but she wanted to save them and keep them from dying.

“Did Tarvos…leave or anything during the school massacre?” It sounded incriminating, but it was something that the priestess had always wondered about in the recesses of her mind. Even if Tarvos was not directly involved he was suspicious.

“He left a few minutes earlier than I did but he never would have done anything like that in such a short amount of time. That feather is very odd though. Were there any at the shrine?” She thought, placing a hand under her chin.

Lannad shook her head, “not that I saw. I just wonder what it came from.”

“Do you think it belonged to the Grand High Messiah?” After all, the one in the game had a feathered wing, at least the shadow made it appear as if he had an avian wing with feathers. It was a possibility that it could come from that wing. If so, they were on the right trail.

“I don’t know. I know that it’s not normal. I think it has something to do with what’s been happening. Something with wings killed them.” It only made logical sense to deduce that. Not to mention, something would more than likely have to fly to the school or fly through classrooms in order to rack up a death toll that large.

“Could it be something else?” Rezzi asked. There was the subject of Chaos.

“It could have been Chaos. The Messiah had already been trying to awaken him. Today was the day that Chaos was prophesized to awaken,” the priestess noted, adding depth to the mystery. Now that more than just the school was involved, things were starting to get deep. The Messiah and Chaos were undoubtedly in cahoots.

“Chaos?” Rezzi spoke in contemplation as capriciouscarnage’s words ran through her mind once more.

‘Have I ever told you, the story of how this world will end? Oh, it’s a cold-hearted, exciting as fuck spectacle that any apocalyptic sap would kill to live for. It’s a real bone-chiller and you’ll be around to live the dream.’

“It’s a long story, but I’ll start from the beginning,” Lannad figured that she would catch her blind friend up to speed on what exactly was happening and how the Messiah was only part of the problem.


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A red beam of light flew through the air, colliding into the leather-clad man’s body with such force that it propelled him backwards. Tony landed in the water with a splash, sending it out in various directions. David let out a ‘phew’ as he bent over, hands placed on his red athletic pants. Sweat clung to his skin, and hot, heavy breaths exited his mouth. Who knows how long all of them had been training under Oz’s careful watch? It was no easy task, and the alien was being very hard on them, and strict with his words. Not to mention the fact that he could control time itself worked against them in all available areas. The two of them didn’t know if they were going to be able to even keep up to achieve their positions in Twisted Land. Living the legacy of a real life video game was definitely not as easy as it was when you were sitting there and watching your character train and fight enemies.

“This is hard. I’ve trained this whole time and I still don’t get it,” the black-haired boy panted.

“You’re doing fine. Much better than your friend over there,” Oz replied and jerked a finger to Tony, who barely climbed out of the water and rolled onto the shore.

“I feel like a drowned cat, and my clothes squeak,” the leather-clad boy rolled over, his clothes sounding his movements. Closing his eyes, he laid there for a moment, catching his breath. “I’ve been trying to get the hang of this and I just can’t seem to get it together.”

“It’s easy. All you have to do is concentrate your energy. You’ll feel it sort of pull into your weapon,” David explained as he held up the Time Sword. “I’ll show you.” Concentrating on the clock face on the hilt, he felt his energy gathering into the blade. The teen stood there for a while, until he felt his weapon grew hot in his hands. David swung the blade with all of his might, releasing a blast so powerful that it threw him back and took out a nearby hillside, sending rocks, dirt and debris everywhere, leaving the boy on his back a few feet away. “Well…that with less fail.”

“It’s not a hard concept to grasp. All you have to do is turn kinetic energy into a different form. It conditions your mind and you can achieve greater mental prowess. It’s a level of telekinesis.” For the Dius, such a feat was second nature. He knew that only special humans were able to achieve psychic powers, but he opened the ports of their minds in order to make that possible. Why were they having such a hard time with this?

David arched an eyebrow. “Telekinesis? Like bending spoons and shit?”

“It’s the same concept. You control your energy and convert it to a substance. You can concentrate it on a fixed point and before you know it, you get results. It’s moving matter from one place to another and you can utilize its hidden potential,” Oz explained it to them again. Hopefully this would be the last time that he had to explain how to convert energy into a force or power.

“So…if I can bend a spoon, then I can do this?” Tony was still confused about what exactly to do. He sat up on the shore and looked to the alien for any confirmation or further explanation.

“When I transported everyone to Rezzi’s establishment, I opened up your minds and gave you the ability, so you should be able to accomplish that,” Oz glanced to the tan-skinned male who picked up a stick and concentrated on it. The piece of wood trembled in his hands before breaking off with a loud snap.

Tony smiled at his accomplishment. “Hey, that’s pretty cool!”

“Hey Oz, were you born with your powers, or did you have to learn them?” David wondered aloud. His answer determined a few factors in their training. If Oz was born with his powers, then it would be harder for him to teach them, but if he had to learn them as he went then things might not be so hard. There had to be some way that he could make things easier on Tony.

“I was born with them. I am the only one in my entire race to possess those powers. You could say that I’m…a special case.” That wasn’t good. Not for his friend, anyway. Now it was purely up to Tony to catch up with them in better utilizing his powers.

“You actually know who the Grand High Messiah is, don’t you?” David narrowed his eyes through his shades at his mentor as Tony continued to concentrate on his axe, standing in a fighting position as he held the weapon in front of himself in the background.

“Figure it out yourself.” If this was his way of getting him to talk, it wasn’t happening. Oz stood his ground as David walked up to him with a straight form and a frown on his face. The Time Sword was swung over his shoulder. Stopping a good foot away from him, the boy pointed the sword at the alien. The blade pricked Oz’s chest muscles through his black t-shirt.

“Okay, just stop being a tremendous dick. You come up here, all high and mighty, so now you shove it in my face, too? Why do you even care about my world? Why do you care about saving it? What’s your catch twenty-two?” He was sick of the bullshit and the secrets. If this guy cared about their world and the people in it who were dying as they spoke, then he would have given him the identity of the Grand High Messiah if he knew what it was. There was some sort of weird game going around and he was just sick of it all. David wanted answers.

“Is hating you something that I can do?” Oz shot sarcastically.

“No, it’s not,” the teen’s voice was dire.

“Am I transparent or something?” Was it that obvious he knew more than he was letting on?

“Like cellophane, bro. You’re the last of your race, so your world is dead,” David’s eyes burnt into the alien’s stare. The two males in shades stood their ground, glaring at each other and appeared to be stock strong about their opinions.

“That’s correct.”

“What’s going on? No bullshit,” he wanted the truth. David was tired of these stupid little games.

“This affects me as well.”

“Because your world is gone, just like this one will be.” Not even the loud explosion in the back ground from another hill being taken out by Tony’s huge energy attack could shake the atmosphere of their conversation. Tony jumped around in celebration and hooped and hollered about his victory in finally unleashing an attack with actual energy involved.

“Yes! Did you guys see that?” He hollered from the background, but neither of them broke their gaze.

“My world is uninhabitable. My race destroyed itself. It wasn’t even anything to do with the Messiah. In fact, the only hope for our race was the Messiah. Those who were worthy were spared. We’re no different than you are. Much like you all, we were the chosen ones,” the alien explained his situation to the boy, hoping that he would find some sort of form of similarities with the Dius race.

The tip of the Time Sword dug into the ground, and David rested a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “All of this time, I’ve been left in the dark about you. I’ve known you as NexusJuncture when we started playing Twisted Land together. You said you’re fond of me, the real you. I don’t care if you’re an alien. Yeah, it was ball-tripping awkward but if you’re here to help me, then there’s a reason for it.” With his free hand, David reached up and took off his glasses, revealing his sincere blue eyes to the foreigner. “Oz…You’re close to me, deal with it.”

“I’ll do that.”

“I want to understand you. So, stop being a pain in the ass. I’m also sorry that I didn’t believe you…about anything.” It was a decision that he was regretting. A lot could have been avoided if he had only heeded his warning.

Oz placed a hand on his shoulder and brought their heads together, lightly he rested his forehead against the human’s. David’s skin felt hot against his cool, white flesh. He gazed into those blue eyes that were distorted slightly behind the dual colors of his shades. “You want to get to know me, then meet me privately later and I’ll tell you then.”

“Good-“ David began his sentence, but before he could say anything more, a force from behind flung him into Oz. They heard Tony curse out loud, and the word shit was heard as the two fell onto the ground. The alien landed on his back and David’s weight rested against him. Snapping up, to where he was straddling the alien’s bony form, the black-haired teen shot his friend an irritated look. “What the hell?”

“Are you okay?” Tony voiced his concern as he ran up to the two, helping them up. As Oz rose, a large boulder was propelled at them from the blast. If nothing was done, it would soon crush all three of them. Quickly, the burly teen grabbed his axe and ran at the large object. If he produced it, he was going to make it go away…or at least make it small again. Swinging the Nordic Axe over his shoulder, he lifted it up to launch an energy wave at it but Oz stopped him by placing a foot on his back and forcing him down to the ground. Tony belly flopped into the dirt. Holding up his arms, Oz produced a golden force field that shattered the boulder on contact. Small rocks rained down, their plinking sounds emitted against the shield as Tony pulled himself off of the ground.

“Try not to kill me, you ignorant heathens,” Oz frowned down at the axe wielder.

“Sorry, it did it on its own,” Oz’s foot forced him to the ground again as the alien walked over him and over to David, who pulled himself off of the ground from taking a dive.

“I feel like a damned rag doll,” he spat as he put his shades back on. He was lucky that they hadn’t gotten broken in battle yet.

Oz pointed to Tony with a strong look of disapproval. “You train here by yourself. When you get as strong as human David, I’ll come back for you,” he ordered.

“You’re leaving me here?” That wasn’t cool at all.

“You’ll destroy us if we stay here. Besides, we need to talk.”

The axe wielder’s face twisted into a suspicious gaze as he looked from Oz to David.

“Dude, stop it,” his friend said uncomfortably.

“I dunno…”

“I’m not like that, bro. We’re just catching up on things. It’s not like we’re going to have hot sex or something,” David said sarcastically, causing a gray blush to creep onto Oz’s face. He frowned and turned to the unfamiliar with an unamused expression. “Dude, you are not making this easy.”

Way to go, Oz, make things more incriminating for the two of them.

“This isn’t something we discuss in public,” his race was rather secretive with their mating habits. It was embarrassing to bring such a thing up in the public eye like this.

“You guys probably…” David stopped himself in mid-sentence. “Never mind, we’ll talk about that later.” This was not the time for a subject change, or to sit around discussing different species and their forms of copulation.

Oz averted his eyes, “right.”

“Okay, can we get the hell out of the Amazing Land of Awkward?” This subject only got worse the more they tried to discuss it. Now it was like an ongoing gag that ran out of hilarity. He just wanted to get on with the actual point of their talk.

The alien lifted his hand with his palm flat and an opening formed in the air itself that grew to the size of a door, revealing the natural colors of David’s world. The two stepped through the door and appeared in the normal world outside of the parallel universe he had created. The door then shrunk back into a solid wall that separated the two worlds.

“We’ll be fine here. This is your real, human world,” Oz explained their location.

“Holy shit. It doesn’t even look the same. Nothing is fucked up,” David glanced around, noticing the two hills that they had destroyed with their magic were still intact.

“Tell me…Do you really want to be a Time Guardian?" The alien male’s voice was low and somber. It wasn’t about a part in a video game. Now that David knew that he would have to train in order to be a Time Guardian, maybe he had a change of heart. However, the decision not to become one might have been much worse.

“You know it. I’m serious.” How did he suspect that David wouldn’t give up this easily?

“Then this will be your first task. This is a secret between us,” he said, bringing his hand to the side of David’s face, causing the human to blush.

“Uh…”

“I’m going to make you after my image. Since you idolize me, you shall become my apprentice. However, this is classified information. Like before, I’ll let you know things but you must let the others figure it out for themselves.” Dealing with time meant knowledge gained, but it also mean that he would live in a world where he was an exception to many rules. As such, he would bear the guilt of knowing what others did not and for the sake of not disrupting time, keeping incidents to himself.

“I’m guessing you’ll do something horrible if I open my mouth?” This was undoubtedly a test.

“Heh. You have no choice. If you knew who I was, you’d wisely keep quiet. Time Guardians who speak ill words get thrown into the Null Zone.”

“Null Zone?” What the fuck was that? Better yet, maybe he didn’t want to know.

“A gap in time where you stay in suspended animation until you die,” Oz informed.

“Dude, don’t say that while you’re petting my face like a demented psychopath,” David commented upon noticing his hand had been stroking his cheek for this entire conversation.

“Do you still want to be my apprentice?”

“You have mental issues. Has anyone ever told you that?” If they hadn’t he was here to bear the news.

“Tell me.”

“About your mental issues?”

“About your choice.”

“You can’t scare me. I’m still doing it.” Besides, it wasn’t like he was going to tell any of his precious secrets. In the past he was the one person who held in all of the things “Oz” told NexusJuncture to tell him and hold from the other players. Why would he stop being loyal now?

“Then, you’re prepared to suffer the consequences?”

“You picked me for this job. Alien or not, I still idolize you. I get this feeling that you know a lot. Not just about this Messiah stuff, but about other things. Tell me, why does this concern you?” For god’s sake, this guy was from another planet. He probably knew of a ton of other places to be, doing shit more important than dealing with a bunch of snot-nosed kids like them. However, Oz still picked this planet, out of the billions that could exist in the span of this universe. It was more than odd. The fact that his face was near extinction and their planet was also gone, only added to his mystery.

“My race has nowhere to go.” That was only partial truth, but truth nonetheless.

“So, you’re going to come here?”

A white hand slide down his cheek, caressing the boy’s neck. “You need me as much as I need you. Your race will fall to the brink of extinction, just as mine as. In order to defeat the enemy, we have to work together. We’ve experienced this, so we can guide you along. In return we wish to share what’s left of your world with you.”

“It’s not like I can say no, but I don’t know how the others are going to feel about it.” It’s not like anyone could stop it, but he was certain not everyone would agree with it. In retrospect, David didn’t think it was something that was just going to make the Dius leave even if his friends were against it. It might make them leave their positions and not want to do as Oz instructed, though. There were a lot of unknowns in this plan. He didn’t really know how to feel about it.

“Your opinion matters now. Your world is the most similar to our own. However, we have…cultural differences,” Oz noted. More like, they were two completely different creatures with different systems of doing everything, even the most mundane of chores and bodily functions.

“I’ll say,” David agreed. He was still trying to get past that weird stratos thing the Dius had and how they had two lovers at the same time. That just sounded like a big dramacon to him.

“We’ll bring structure to this world and create a new one from the wreckage of the old. A world where we can live together.” If they all followed his plan, he was certain that it would work. He had chosen a good group so far. If everything carried out as planned, they would develop into just what he had planned them to be all along.

“How in the hell can I do that? We don’t know anything about each other,” the task wasn’t that easy for David. Even if the Dius knew all sorts of things about the humans, it was far from an even trade. Maybe he would gain knowledge about the Dius race as they got familiar with each other but right now his knowledge was next to zero.

“You’ll get to know me,” this wasn’t going to be instantaneous. It took time, like all things.

“I trust you. I won’t tell anyone about your plan. I’ll just try and push them to go in the right direction towards you.” It would be his new side goal, besides bettering himself as a Time Guardian and living up to Oz’s expectations.

Above everything, his main goal was still to make Oz proud of him.

“That’s precisely what I’m doing.”

“Are you a Time Guardian from your world?” If he was, then he wondered how many Time Guardians existed in total. It would be pretty awesome to meet all of the Time Guardians across the span of the universe.
“I’m much more than that. However, there is something more pressing on my mind.”

“What is it?”

“What is a…brocrush?”



…To Be Continued