Zelaine jolted upright from her sleep and felt something binding her mouth, it was an oxygen mask and she ripped it free, the plastic strap snapped against her cheek.
She looked around wildly, the walls were white and near her placed on a table was some kind of beeping monitor showing her heart rate.
"Where am I, how did I get here," the last thing she remembered was the big explosion caused by Atiya.
She extended her hand holding the IV stand at her side and stepped down, her bare feet met the cold tile, then her eyes went to the slippers and she pushed them on.
She ignored the deep ache in her ribs and staggered to the door.
She walked into the corridor outside the room and grabbed the first white coat she saw, hoping he was a doctor, catching him just around the corner.
Her fingers dug into his sleeve before he could pass.
"Excuse me," her voice came out scraped raw and rough, it startled him, "do you know what happened to Atiya, is he safe?"
The doctor glanced at her and felt the strength of her grip.
"Atiya, who?"
"Atiya," she repeated, "do you know where he is?"
She asked again meanwhile the doctor was lost, he called over his shoulder, "nurse, could you take care of her?"
A nurse appeared and took Zelaine by her arm and steered her back toward the room.
"You don't know who Atiya is?" Zelaine asked, confused.
The nurse gave her a patient smile.
"We don't know, miss, some people found you on a road, your whole body was soaked in blood and since then you have been in a coma for three days."
Zelaine's stomach dropped.
*Somewhere....did I get teleported somewhere other than Ansep.*
"So....where am I?"
"Downtown Hospital."
She didn't have any recollection of a hospital with that name inside the 49th belt.
*Was there any such hospital.*
Then her gaze drifted to the magazine the nurse was holding, and on the glossy cover a bold title stared back at her.
61st belt, Ellejort's most trusted Hospital — Downtown.
The first three words hit her like a wall.
"61st belt, Ellejort."
*Fuck, am I really in the 61st belt.*
Her mind went blank for a moment.
The evening passed quickly as it bled into midnight, she had spent hours propped against the thin pillow, thinking about what she was supposed to do.
"Why Ellejort of all places."
Ellejort was a forbidden belt where entry was strictly prohibited, there was a pact that if an intruder was ever discovered, execution was certain, and war would likely follow after that.
"I don't want to die, I am only 129 years old and I haven't ascended to Ascension 3."
"Are there police waiting outside for me to recover...."
"Calm down, if that was the case then they would have barged in long ago."
"The nurse said I was found on a road soaked in blood, then I must have teleported to a street and someone brought me here."
"What now, I just have to hope they haven't figured it out."
Then something she had heard sometime ago resounded in her ear.
"I was unconscious for three days, then they must have surely taken my blood samples."
"They will find out I am not human and the attention will be drawn to me."
"Tch, I fucking need to disappear from here."
She waited for midnight lying sprawled on the bed, watching for any movements outside.
To escape she had to know the building's layout, the exits, the stairs, where the cameras were, the staff's movements.
She couldn't find all of that out in such a short time.
When the nurse came to check on her for the last time that day, Zelaine asked her something.
"Where are my clothes and belongings?"
"Don't worry miss, everything's safe in the locker there," the nurse smiled gently and pointed to the narrow metal cabinet beside the bed, setting a small key on the bedside table before she left.
"Good."
*Even if you have already called the police on me....thanks for the hospitality.*
She waited until the footsteps faded away, then waited a little longer.
Zelaine slipped out of bed and opened the locker, her clothes were folded inside, torn and blood crusted.
*Must be from Nongban.*
Then she checked for the things that actually mattered.
Her crystals.
Fortunately they were safe.
"Good, I can somehow survive on this."
She slipped out of the room using a crystal that made her temporarily invisible.
*Master's ability to make these niche crystals is fucking handy at times like this.*
She hoped the cameras hadn't caught anything and found an elevator effortlessly after walking for some time, she stepped in, pressing the button for the ground floor, she was on the sixth floor currently.
She exhaled slowly as the doors slid shut.
*I just hope the ground floor isn't buried underground.*
The elevator moved and on the fifth floor the doors opened.
At first fear shot through her, thinking she had been caught.
A little girl stepped in first, clutching a stuffed toy, and two people seemingly her parents followed behind her, the mother smoothing her daughter's hair shot her husband a tired look.
"Seriously, what's gotten into you that you want to drive at this hour."
"Come on, I know you enjoy it too," the husband said with a worn grin, "besides I am more worried about the farm right now."
*Farm.*
Zelaine's ears perked up.
"Isn't it scary though," Ellamell pressed, "fifty miles, in the middle of the night, to a place with no neighbours for miles around."
*Deserted with no neighbouring houses.*
Zelaine's mouth curved inwardly.
*I had no idea where to go, turns out I didn't need to think about it much.*
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her remaining Yai crystals and began to rummage through them quietly, searching for a specific one.
The elevator dinged as it reached the third floor.
*Where is it, come on.*
She kept searching, only half listening to the family's murmuring beside her, the elevator continued its descent.
Just as it reached the ground floor and the doors slid open, her fingers closed around the right one.
She could feel no Yai from them, meaning they were not Yai users, so it was really not that hard for her to accomplish what she wanted.
*There.*
She slipped it back into her pocket and followed the family out, the ground floor they were in now was the parking lot.
The family moved to find their car and Zelaine followed a few steps behind, her invisibility trick was reaching its limits too.
Her fingers stayed wrapped around the crystal.
Mavine, the brown haired girl, noticed Zelaine a few steps behind and slowed, glancing over her shoulder.
"Is something wrong, miss?"
Zelaine met her eyes, "nothing, I just wanted a word with them, are they your parents."
Something shifted in Mavine's face and her fingers found the edge of her jacket and began fidgeting.
"Yes, no," Mavine fidgeted, "...."
Ellamell cut in, stepping slightly in front of the girl.
"I'm sorry, our daughter just went through a surgery so she may be a little confused, what is it you need?"
Zelaine closed her fingers around the crystal in her pocket.
*I'm not going to hurt any one of you.*
"I'm here to help myself," she said quietly.
Then she crushed the crystal.
A faint scarlet shimmer passed over the family like a ripple across still water, their eyes glazed and they fell into a complete trance.
Zelaine stepped closer, keeping her voice even.
"How many people are in your family, and is your home far from others?"
"Three," Ellamell answered flatly, "our house is in West Barrac, we're surrounded by farmland."
*Good.*
"From now on," she said softly but clearly, "you'll remember me as family, I'll be living with you."
****
*Huh....my pain is gone, somehow I feel....refreshed.*
Atiya woke with a low groan.
He blinked slowly, once, surveying his surroundings, then lifted his head.
First thing, he checked his arms, his legs, everything.
Nothing.
He was wearing clothes, simple loose linen tunic and pants, clean, no blood.
He was on a bed.
The room around him was small and square, built from dark timber logs, a single narrow window let in pale light, but no suffocating darkness either.
A stone hearth smoldered in the corner, giving off faint warmth and the clean scent of burning cedar.
*Was I....rescued.*
"You're awake!"
The voice came bright and sudden from the far corner, Atiya's head snapped toward it.
A woman, short, silver haired, maybe mid twenties but with an unnervingly childlike energy, stood there beaming at him, her hair cropped jaggedly at the chin, strands falling into wide luminous eyes the color of fresh frost.
She wore layered furs and leathers, practical for cold, but the way she bounced on her toes made her look like she belonged in a festival rather than a frozen nowhere.
"....."
Atiya didn't speak.
He simply raised both hands, two magenta portals bloomed instantly, one in front of his chest like a shield, one hovering between them like a loaded crossbow.
"Say a word," he rasped.
The silver haired woman tilted her head, still smiling, wide, ecstatic, cheeks flushed a little.
"Word? Oh! You mean something like 'I am a strong loli girl who will serve you with all my might, master,' something like that?"
Her eyes sparkled like a child showing off a new toy, she even did a tiny excited hop.
Atiya stared for three full seconds.
Then he let out a long, tired breath.
"Poor choice of words, and uselessly talkative, good, you're not the same as them."
The portals winked out with soft pops.
She cocked her head the other way, smile never faltering.
"You're a Yai user! I knew it, hey, I have a proposal for you—"
"Are you perhaps not right in the head?"
Atiya cut her off, blunt.
She blinked once, twice, a cartoonish storm of question marks practically swirling above her head.
"I....don't know?" she said, tapping her temple with one finger, "an avalanche swept me away earlier when I was carrying you, when I woke up I was here, maybe I should go to the city and have my head examined."
Atiya looked at her, really looked.
Then answered, deadpan.
"No need to check, you're really not right in the head."
She gasped dramatically, hand flying to her chest.
"Rude! But also....you are hilarious."
She grinned wider, completely unbothered.
Atiya rubbed his face with both hands, feeling the unfamiliar smoothness of clean skin, the absence of crusted blood.
"You said you carried me?" his voice came low and edged with suspicion, "where was I, I don't remember how I got there...."
He needed to know, needed to confirm whether the pit, the blood, the bones, or the unknown version of Shilial he had encountered was real or just a dream .
'If the pit was real....and I was inside it....then that sheet skill must have activated on its own, but if that happened, how the hell am I still alive.'