New Adventure

"Uggh."

I groaned, sitting up slowly, my bangs falling over my eyes. Opening my pupils, unable to see a thing, I moved to brush them from view to feel my hands missing. Wriggling my toes, the same feeling was apparent below my legs and nearly every inch of my body. Some otherworldly force held me captive, the same senseless feeling only allowing me to turn my head as the phenomenon moved up to my mouth, rendering me blind and speechless.

"I never imagined we would ever need to meet, and yet, it looks like trouble has had the liberty of finding you near the end of my life. Maybe this is cruel destiny at play."

"...Guess there's no choice. I'll have to help you before every inch of your soul is devoured."

A hidden imposing voice talked from the shadows saying two sentences before going quiet. I felt myself being pulled out of nowhere like invisible hands were reaching through whatever force had consumed my limbs. However, no matter how forceful the tug, I didn't seem to move as if I was rooted down by chains.

The pulling eventually stopped, leaving me be, the voice returning, addressing me with concern.

"How peculiar, it's unnatural that I don't sense any latent angel power coming from you. The situation must be worse than anything I've dreamed up. It looks as if I'll need to make an appearance myself."

"I'll meet with you in the town your friends are stationing. Until then, don't use your powers for anything, Prince Reis."

A lingering feeling of delicate hands running across my cheek came and went as the voice dragged out the syllables of my name before abandoning me in the unknown place, the mysterious, intangible substance consuming the remaining part of me.

...

I jolt awake, beads of sweat covering every inch of me as I gasp frantically, hyperventilating. The moment I sat up, loud cacophonous sounds filled my ears with more noise and frequency than I was used to, making me shield them immediately as I looked around, yet nothing filled my vision, only a blank canvas of white.

The screeching, beeping, blaring, and yelling, everything filed in at once until it finally subsided, fading away until I could hear notes of familiar voices breathing into my eardrums. They called out worriedly, four voices growing louder in their struggle to reach out to me, two hands grabbing either side of my face as if urging me to focus, my pupils shortly complying, stopping and staring at what I assumed to be the source.

"There you are...focus on me, master, look this way, just straight ahead."

"Lei...fa?"

"Of course, with Jai, Thalia, and Resa. We're all here."

"I... don't see them or you, just about nothing actually. ...Where are we?"

"In a small health ward, you're in a hospital bed. We had to hurry and get you somewhere after you passed out in my arms. We're somewhere called Lis, a town my scouting group I sent west found. Just what the hell was that? The moment you attempted your revival process the sixth time, your body withered and rotted. There wasn't even an ounce of magic in you."

"What Jai means is we have no idea what's going on. The doctors are running some tests as we speak, and they examined you, but there's still no thought of what occurred. The most they've been able to do is restore the nutrients and energy your body lost."

"I'm with Leifa. We need you to fill us in; even just a little idea would help, bud."

"...Please, brother."

I couldn't see the four of them, but their begging tugged at my emotions. Conflicted, I felt split between telling the vague details of yesterday's events and keeping them to myself. Feeling movement near my right side, a slender hand wrapped around mine, the size and warmth it radiated unmistakably belonging to Thalia, whose hand I held many times before this.

Flashback to the promise we made, I gave a deep sigh holding my head as if I was being assaulted by the nightmare yet again.

"I don't know, not much anyway. Everything that happened last night spawned out of nowhere. For a while now, however, I haven't been able to summon my magic effectively; my fight alongside Resa, my battle against Tak, when I tried to revive your crew, Jai, in all instances, they've flickered away or didn't come at all."

"The phenomenon from last night was a first, though. An inexplicable pain came over me, but it wasn't normal, almost suffocating. Like my entire essence was being broken down. Then I had some weird nightmare, but it seemed somewhat realistic as if I could die in it. The only clear thing I remember from it was a voice saying we'd meet in the town my friends and I docked in."

"Next I know, I wake up, and my vision is gone. I'm...just as lost as you all, and there seems to be a giant piece missing that makes connecting the puzzle imposs-

Near the end of my story, a round of vivid images shuffled through my mind, an abandoned, worn-down house, a structure that looked to be an amphitheater, a broken scepter, a forest, and lastly, a rift in the sky; all things I had never witnessed before.

"Hey, Reis!"

I heard Jai call out, unsure of why for a few moments. Soon, I felt a thick liquid stream from my eye, which could only be assumed to be blood. It came out slow in a steady stream, pouring onto my hand as Leifa tried to rub it away.

Minutes later, after the incident started, I felt the blood cease. My body slumping back onto the bed, entering a half-conscious state as I waited for the doctor with my confused compatriots, the room filling with their shouting.

Thalia POV

It had been a long while since the screaming died down. I was unable to tell the time myself, but the intensity of the atmosphere wasn't lost on me. After learning brother had passed out for a second time, I sat by his side, refusing to budge until he woke up while the footsteps of either Resa, Jai, or Leifa echoed in the room with their pacing.

A sudden knock came from deeper in the back, cutting through the silence as the door opening reached my ears, followed by a voice I had gone to memorize; the doctor. He walked in, flipping through pages, clearing his throat before speaking.

"It's just as I said earlier; there's nothing physically wrong with him. His vitals are all normal, and his brain is stable. I have no clue why he's reacting abnormally or how he lost his vision so suddenly. If I had to make a logical guess, this is some sort of prank."

"Prank!" Resa was the first to lash out, hearing his usual lax tone become heated, "How can you think this a joke?! You saw his condition when we came in, and you even gave him the transfusion!"

"Young man, I implore you to calm down. These walls are thin, and you'll disturb the other patients, which goes to any of you who wants to make an outburst."

"Apologies, but are you quite sure you ran every possible exam on master's body? I find the notion a bit hard to believe, much like my friend who screamed."

"I am positive. His tests were doctored ten times, using the magic of ten individual mages; no one found anything out of the ordinary. We even searched for curse markings that could have been secretly cast upon him, but that also became an empty lead. Can you blame me for coming to such a conclusion?"

"...Nevertheless, let's assume your pal has an unidentified disease. ...I might know someone who can help. However, they're a bit... retired. I hate to say, but her methods might turn up something; I must warn you that they are unorthodox, with the experiments she performs having less than a ten percent chance of survival. If you're willing to gamble on a tiny possibility, I'll provide you with her address."

"And what's a doctor like you doing with someone like that?

"...Jai was it? There are specific questions you don't want the answer to in this hellish world we share. Just hurry and make your decision. I don't have all night."

"...Thalia, what do you think? I'll leave the decision up to you."

I felt Leifa's voice close, whispering the question into my ear as her hand gently landed on my shoulder. Looking in the direction she spoke from, I grabbed my brother's hand, squeezing it tighter as if it would help build the confidence I needed to make such a decision.

Listening to his shallow breathing, the longer we sat accomplishing nothing, I tore at the bedsheets with my other free hand, coming to a firm choice.

"...Let's go see her."