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Description
Weiss sprinted as fast as he could towards the falling girl, his best friend since they were ten, the one constant in his life, his only love. They had been so close for so long, and now she was mere seconds from what appeared to be certain death. Weiss stumbled on a loose stone and fell, clutching the air in front of him and cursing his own stupidity. May hit the ground a few feet in front of him with a horrible thud, a sound that he would remember for a very long time to come, haunting him whenever he felt insecure.
That was the very instant when Weiss realized the true depth of his situation, and the frailty of human life. From that moment, he knew just how much was at stake, and how much could be lost in an instant. The sound of May’s body hitting the ground changed his life forever.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, staring at May’s unnatural form slumped on the ground. Samaiel had disappeared, and the chaos that had overtaken the Museum was starting to die down. After a while, Weiss tried to get up. After a moment’s struggle with shock, he managed to get to his feet and stumble over to May, kneeling over her. His first thought was that she was dead. Her body lay in a shallow pool of blood, her limbs terribly twisted and obviously broken. Weiss thought it was all over, that he had lost her, but then he noticed something. May was breathing. It was shallow and labored, but she was alive.
Weiss stood, shaking. He could save her, he had to save her. He paced around, thinking. What could he do? He had to get help, but where? There weren’t any hospitals nearby; in fact, he hadn’t seen any sort of civilization for the entire time he had been in the Dark Realm. As he was pacing, Manfred tapped him on the back. “Hey, Weiss?”
“You!” Weiss snarled. He pointed to May’s slightly quivering form. “You did this!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean-“
“Well, a hell of a lot of good ‘sorry’ does us, huh?”
“Jeez, bite my head off, why don’t you?” Manfred sighed. “Do you want some help, or not?”
“What good are you going to do me?” Weiss’s voice was trembling; he was on the verge of tears.
Manfred pointed into the forest. “Over there. I saw something… I think we might be able to get some help if we go that way.”
“And why should I listen to anything you say?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
There was an awkward pause, and then Weiss shook his head and sighed. “Fine, we’ll go that way. I hope you’re right.” Carefully cradling May’s head, he picked the girl up. “Let’s get moving. I don’t think I can carry her for very long.” They quickly made their way into the forest. Almost as soon as they entered the brush, Weiss noticed a flash of white disappear behind a tree. He followed it, only to see the same thing happen again. They pushed through the forest, following the light.
After a few minutes, they came to a clearing in the forest, where a small stone pedestal stood. As they approached it, a ripple started to form behind it. It was the same sort of rippling that they had seen at the shrine in the Museum. The closer they got to the pedestal, the more intense the ripple became, twisting and distorting the space behind it. The pedestal had a handprint imprinted on it. The two hesitated as they saw the handprint.
“Should we touch it?” Weiss asked, stopping to checking May’s breathing.
“Of course! These sorts of things just beg to be touched, you know?”
“But can’t you see that… thing behind it? What if another demon or whatever comes out of it when we do?”
Manfred just laughed. “Nonsense!” Before Weiss could stop him, he mashed his palm onto the mark on the altar. The space behind it began to tear once again, but this time, a warm light washed over them from the opening. They could see white buildings and a clear blue sky through the oscillating hole. Manfred smirked triumphantly, gesturing towards the portal with a flourish. “See? I told you. Now, let’s go. May’s not getting any better.”
Weiss stood there for a moment, letting the last thirty seconds or so sink in. Manfred had already hopped through the gateway and was beckoning to him from the other side. Weiss didn’t have any better ideas, and the other side of this portal seemed like a much more promising place than this Realm, so he carefully stepped through.
He was immediately struck by the dazzling light. It seemed that the sun here was much brighter than what he was used to, which wasn’t a bad thing compared to the oppressive darkness he was just in. It gave him some hope that things might not be as bad as they seemed. The second thing he noticed was the fact that he was in a bustling city. It seemed a bit more primitive than where he came from: many buildings were made of stone, and there was little glass. People were moving about the town, and Weiss noticed that they were all dressed similarly to Anemonae. A few people had seen him carrying May, and a small crowd had formed around them. Manfred had disappeared.
“Dear Gods… What happened to you?” A man from the crowd was addressing Weiss. “Do you need a doctor?”
“Yes!” Weiss was instantly relieved. “Wh…Where?”
“Follow me.” The man briskly walked through the town, Weiss directly behind him. They approached a tall temple-like building with a caduceus adorning its roof. They ran up the steps and rushed through the door. The building was obviously a clinic of some sort, with people sitting in chairs in what resembled a waiting room and men and women in white robes moving about the place. A woman at the reception desk looked up at Weiss as the door slammed; the other man had left.
Weiss walked up to the receptionist. “I need help! I mean, she needs help, a doctor, or-“
“I can see that, sir,” she calmly said. “What exactly is the nature of her injury?”
“She fell, uh, really far. She’s still breathing, but I don’t think she’s going to last much longer, and I’m really worried, and… and…” He trailed off, holding back tears.
The receptionist smiled at him. “If she’s still breathing, then I’m sure we can do something about it.” She pulled a small lever on her desk, and a short bell jingle played from somewhere in the hospital. Almost immediately, a small group of men came out from a nearby door with a stretcher. They gently took May from Weiss and placed her on it, quickly wheeling her away. The receptionist got up, still smiling, and started down the hallway after them, gesturing for Weiss to follow. “I take it you’re from the Neutral Realm,” she commented as they made their way down the hall.
“Uh, yeah.” Weiss was taken aback at how calm everyone seemed while they were caring for a girl who barely clung to life.
The woman giggled. “It shows. No offense, but your realm’s healing system… it’s kinda sad. You’re lucky you got here when you did, of course, but there’s no need to worry now, we’ll take good care of her. Our survival rate for any sort of trauma is nearly one hundred percent, you know. Decapitations we’re not so great with, but come in with most of your vital organs and we can fix you right up!” She beamed at him, then put on a more serious expression when she saw that Weiss wasn’t quite comfortable yet. “Sorry. I haven’t seen an NR’er in a long time. Really, she’ll be fine. Ah, here we are.” The men turned the stretcher into a small room, which had a different sort of wall covering, something shiny and dark that Weiss couldn’t identify. He was surprised to see that there wasn’t any medical equipment in the room. The receptionist smiled at him again. “Just watch,” she said.
She and the three men each took a position at each corner of May’s stretcher and placed their hands directly above her. They held this stance for a moment, concentrating until their hands began to glow with the same white light that Weiss had seen Anemonae use to heal him after drinking the well water. The wall covering seemed to glow as well, reflecting the light on the girl on the bed in the center of the room. The healers, as Weiss could now see that they were, slowly passed their hands over May. As they did, her twisted body began to regain its normal shape. The receptionist helped the process, gently moving the girl’s body to accommodate the movement. After a moment, the light dimmed and eventually died completely. The healers and receptionist looked at one another, concerned. One of them murmured something, and then briskly walked off.
Weiss stared at May for a moment, still amazed at the previous display, but then he noticed the concerned look on the others’ faces. “Is something wrong? What happened? Did you heal her?”
“Um, yes,” the receptionist replied. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Uh… just… take her to a recovery room, you two. I’ll go… discuss this with the head healer.” The others nodded and pushed the stretcher back into the hallway. Weiss followed them until they arrived in a much nicer room. A window looked over the city, and there were several beautiful paintings on the walls, which were painted a bright white like most of the hospital. The men gently lifted May onto a bed which was the centerpiece of the room. The bed had beautiful flowing curtains, large pillows, and sheets made of a very fine fabric. “Please wait here,” one of the men said. Weiss was happy to oblige. He sat in a lounge chair in the corner of the room and waited. An hour passed, with May still unconscious. An hour became two, and by the time three hours had gone by, Weiss had fallen asleep.
He was woken up by a gentle shake. “May?” he asked, confused and disoriented.
“Over here, Weiss.”
Weiss rubbed his eyes and sat up. May was awake, smiling at him from her bed. A healer was the one who had woken him up. He looked flustered: he was sweaty, had dark bags under his eyes, and was wringing his hands. “Good morning, Mr. Emerson.” Weiss opened his mouth to correct him, but May shook her head, so he let the doctor go on. “I’m happy to say that your sister will be fine, and that she should be out of here by tomorrow morning. We were able to heal most of her major injuries yesterday, but the process was interrupted, so she’s still got a few minor issues that we’d like to take care of today, the old fashioned way. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got quite a few more patients I have to get to.” The doctor walked out of the room and entered the adjacent one, closing the door behind him.
“So,” May said, “Weiss! How are you?”
“Me? What about you?”
“I feel great! Really, if that doctor hadn’t told me what had happened, I’d think I got drunk last night and we ended up in some hotel somewhere.” She laughed lightly, wincing when she took a deep breath.
“You sure you’re okay?”
May took a moment to catch her breath. “Yeah, I’ll be alright. I just… have a little trouble breathing, that’s all. Nothing they won’t be able to fix later today. Apparently the source of their healing energy or something is acting all wonky. I don’t really know, but they’re going to have to heal me the normal way…”
“That’s alright,” Weiss said. “It’s not like we have to be anywhere. Besides, I kind of like it here. I’d like to stay for a while.”
May’s face lit up. “Yeah! Have you seen the sun here? It’s amazing! I mean, I don’t expect you to stay here all day or anything, but you have to get back here by sunset, okay? My room faces the west, so we’ll be able to see it perfectly!”
“I can’t wait, May.” He moved towards the girl, sitting on the side of her bed. “You know, I don’t think I can ever let you out of my sight again. That was too close… I can’t imagine losing you. I don’t know what I would do without you, you know?”
“Yeah, I do.” She put her hand on his. “I’m sorry for scaring you, Weiss. I know I’d feel the same way if something happened to you. Hey, Weiss…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking. What if we just… disappeared?”
“What are you talking about, May?”
“What if we don’t go back home? You know, I don’t think anyone is really missing us right now… They’ll search for a while, but when they don’t find us, nobody will really care. We’ve got no family, no friends… we’ll just disappear. And then we’ll be free from all the crap we’ve had to put up with for the last few years!” Weiss and May were orphans, and had lived together since they were young as part of an experiment. However, as they fell in love, more and more restrictions were put in place to limit contact between the two of them. “We’ll live together, just you and me… like we used to.”
Weiss considered the idea for a moment, and then smiled. “I think that’s a great idea. We’ll figure something out, but first you have to hurry up and get better!”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” May pouted jokingly. “Have a little patience!”
“You’re telling me to be patient? It’s the end of the world! Quick, put a paper bag over your head!”
May giggled, then sat up, slightly wincing in pain, and put her arms around Weiss. “I love you, Weiss,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you too. Don’t leave me, okay?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

After a while, Weiss had to leave, to let the doctors perform tests and procedures on May. He spent most of the day wandering around the city, gathering information about the new land he found himself in. He had come to the Light Realm, the opposite of the realm he had come from. The denizens of this realm were peaceful people, dedicated to helping others. They weren’t as technologically advanced as the Neutral Realm due to their war with the Dark Realm which set them back centuries, but they were a wise race. Knowledge was very important to them: there were many libraries, schools of different sorts, and museums in the city.
After a few hours of drifting aimlessly throughout the city, Weiss noticed the sun going down. The sun here was much larger and brighter than the one he was used to. It bathed the city in a white light, giving everything a shining look. The clouds in the sky had a much cleaner white color than in the Neutral Realm. Weiss didn’t want to miss the sunset, so he hurried back to the hospital.
May was waiting for him in her room, in a loveseat facing the window. She looked much healthier than when he had left earlier that day. Her face was full of color and life, and when Weiss saw her, he couldn’t help but feel that things were all going to turn out alright. He sat beside her, holding her hand as the sun fell below the horizon. The sunset produced dazzling colors against the clouds in the sky, a wide range of fiery reds, bright pinks, and intense yellows. They didn’t say a word to each other as the sun set. Soon after, May fell asleep, her head on Weiss’s shoulder. He gently stroked her hair for a while, and soon fell asleep himself.

Description
Weiss sprinted as fast as he could towards the falling girl, his best friend since they were ten, the one constant in his life, his only love. They had been so close for so long, and now she was mere seconds from what appeared to be certain death. Weiss stumbled on a loose stone and fell, clutching the air in front of him and cursing his own stupidity. May hit the ground a few feet in front of him with a horrible thud, a sound that he would remember for a very long time to come, haunting him whenever he felt insecure.
That was the very instant when Weiss realized the true depth of his situation, and the frailty of human life. From that moment, he knew just how much was at stake, and how much could be lost in an instant. The sound of May’s body hitting the ground changed his life forever.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, staring at May’s unnatural form slumped on the ground. Samaiel had disappeared, and the chaos that had overtaken the Museum was starting to die down. After a while, Weiss tried to get up. After a moment’s struggle with shock, he managed to get to his feet and stumble over to May, kneeling over her. His first thought was that she was dead. Her body lay in a shallow pool of blood, her limbs terribly twisted and obviously broken. Weiss thought it was all over, that he had lost her, but then he noticed something. May was breathing. It was shallow and labored, but she was alive.
Weiss stood, shaking. He could save her, he had to save her. He paced around, thinking. What could he do? He had to get help, but where? There weren’t any hospitals nearby; in fact, he hadn’t seen any sort of civilization for the entire time he had been in the Dark Realm. As he was pacing, Manfred tapped him on the back. “Hey, Weiss?”
“You!” Weiss snarled. He pointed to May’s slightly quivering form. “You did this!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean-“
“Well, a hell of a lot of good ‘sorry’ does us, huh?”
“Jeez, bite my head off, why don’t you?” Manfred sighed. “Do you want some help, or not?”
“What good are you going to do me?” Weiss’s voice was trembling; he was on the verge of tears.
Manfred pointed into the forest. “Over there. I saw something… I think we might be able to get some help if we go that way.”
“And why should I listen to anything you say?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
There was an awkward pause, and then Weiss shook his head and sighed. “Fine, we’ll go that way. I hope you’re right.” Carefully cradling May’s head, he picked the girl up. “Let’s get moving. I don’t think I can carry her for very long.” They quickly made their way into the forest. Almost as soon as they entered the brush, Weiss noticed a flash of white disappear behind a tree. He followed it, only to see the same thing happen again. They pushed through the forest, following the light.
After a few minutes, they came to a clearing in the forest, where a small stone pedestal stood. As they approached it, a ripple started to form behind it. It was the same sort of rippling that they had seen at the shrine in the Museum. The closer they got to the pedestal, the more intense the ripple became, twisting and distorting the space behind it. The pedestal had a handprint imprinted on it. The two hesitated as they saw the handprint.
“Should we touch it?” Weiss asked, stopping to checking May’s breathing.
“Of course! These sorts of things just beg to be touched, you know?”
“But can’t you see that… thing behind it? What if another demon or whatever comes out of it when we do?”
Manfred just laughed. “Nonsense!” Before Weiss could stop him, he mashed his palm onto the mark on the altar. The space behind it began to tear once again, but this time, a warm light washed over them from the opening. They could see white buildings and a clear blue sky through the oscillating hole. Manfred smirked triumphantly, gesturing towards the portal with a flourish. “See? I told you. Now, let’s go. May’s not getting any better.”
Weiss stood there for a moment, letting the last thirty seconds or so sink in. Manfred had already hopped through the gateway and was beckoning to him from the other side. Weiss didn’t have any better ideas, and the other side of this portal seemed like a much more promising place than this Realm, so he carefully stepped through.
He was immediately struck by the dazzling light. It seemed that the sun here was much brighter than what he was used to, which wasn’t a bad thing compared to the oppressive darkness he was just in. It gave him some hope that things might not be as bad as they seemed. The second thing he noticed was the fact that he was in a bustling city. It seemed a bit more primitive than where he came from: many buildings were made of stone, and there was little glass. People were moving about the town, and Weiss noticed that they were all dressed similarly to Anemonae. A few people had seen him carrying May, and a small crowd had formed around them. Manfred had disappeared.
“Dear Gods… What happened to you?” A man from the crowd was addressing Weiss. “Do you need a doctor?”
“Yes!” Weiss was instantly relieved. “Wh…Where?”
“Follow me.” The man briskly walked through the town, Weiss directly behind him. They approached a tall temple-like building with a caduceus adorning its roof. They ran up the steps and rushed through the door. The building was obviously a clinic of some sort, with people sitting in chairs in what resembled a waiting room and men and women in white robes moving about the place. A woman at the reception desk looked up at Weiss as the door slammed; the other man had left.
Weiss walked up to the receptionist. “I need help! I mean, she needs help, a doctor, or-“
“I can see that, sir,” she calmly said. “What exactly is the nature of her injury?”
“She fell, uh, really far. She’s still breathing, but I don’t think she’s going to last much longer, and I’m really worried, and… and…” He trailed off, holding back tears.
The receptionist smiled at him. “If she’s still breathing, then I’m sure we can do something about it.” She pulled a small lever on her desk, and a short bell jingle played from somewhere in the hospital. Almost immediately, a small group of men came out from a nearby door with a stretcher. They gently took May from Weiss and placed her on it, quickly wheeling her away. The receptionist got up, still smiling, and started down the hallway after them, gesturing for Weiss to follow. “I take it you’re from the Neutral Realm,” she commented as they made their way down the hall.
“Uh, yeah.” Weiss was taken aback at how calm everyone seemed while they were caring for a girl who barely clung to life.
The woman giggled. “It shows. No offense, but your realm’s healing system… it’s kinda sad. You’re lucky you got here when you did, of course, but there’s no need to worry now, we’ll take good care of her. Our survival rate for any sort of trauma is nearly one hundred percent, you know. Decapitations we’re not so great with, but come in with most of your vital organs and we can fix you right up!” She beamed at him, then put on a more serious expression when she saw that Weiss wasn’t quite comfortable yet. “Sorry. I haven’t seen an NR’er in a long time. Really, she’ll be fine. Ah, here we are.” The men turned the stretcher into a small room, which had a different sort of wall covering, something shiny and dark that Weiss couldn’t identify. He was surprised to see that there wasn’t any medical equipment in the room. The receptionist smiled at him again. “Just watch,” she said.
She and the three men each took a position at each corner of May’s stretcher and placed their hands directly above her. They held this stance for a moment, concentrating until their hands began to glow with the same white light that Weiss had seen Anemonae use to heal him after drinking the well water. The wall covering seemed to glow as well, reflecting the light on the girl on the bed in the center of the room. The healers, as Weiss could now see that they were, slowly passed their hands over May. As they did, her twisted body began to regain its normal shape. The receptionist helped the process, gently moving the girl’s body to accommodate the movement. After a moment, the light dimmed and eventually died completely. The healers and receptionist looked at one another, concerned. One of them murmured something, and then briskly walked off.
Weiss stared at May for a moment, still amazed at the previous display, but then he noticed the concerned look on the others’ faces. “Is something wrong? What happened? Did you heal her?”
“Um, yes,” the receptionist replied. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Uh… just… take her to a recovery room, you two. I’ll go… discuss this with the head healer.” The others nodded and pushed the stretcher back into the hallway. Weiss followed them until they arrived in a much nicer room. A window looked over the city, and there were several beautiful paintings on the walls, which were painted a bright white like most of the hospital. The men gently lifted May onto a bed which was the centerpiece of the room. The bed had beautiful flowing curtains, large pillows, and sheets made of a very fine fabric. “Please wait here,” one of the men said. Weiss was happy to oblige. He sat in a lounge chair in the corner of the room and waited. An hour passed, with May still unconscious. An hour became two, and by the time three hours had gone by, Weiss had fallen asleep.
He was woken up by a gentle shake. “May?” he asked, confused and disoriented.
“Over here, Weiss.”
Weiss rubbed his eyes and sat up. May was awake, smiling at him from her bed. A healer was the one who had woken him up. He looked flustered: he was sweaty, had dark bags under his eyes, and was wringing his hands. “Good morning, Mr. Emerson.” Weiss opened his mouth to correct him, but May shook her head, so he let the doctor go on. “I’m happy to say that your sister will be fine, and that she should be out of here by tomorrow morning. We were able to heal most of her major injuries yesterday, but the process was interrupted, so she’s still got a few minor issues that we’d like to take care of today, the old fashioned way. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got quite a few more patients I have to get to.” The doctor walked out of the room and entered the adjacent one, closing the door behind him.
“So,” May said, “Weiss! How are you?”
“Me? What about you?”
“I feel great! Really, if that doctor hadn’t told me what had happened, I’d think I got drunk last night and we ended up in some hotel somewhere.” She laughed lightly, wincing when she took a deep breath.
“You sure you’re okay?”
May took a moment to catch her breath. “Yeah, I’ll be alright. I just… have a little trouble breathing, that’s all. Nothing they won’t be able to fix later today. Apparently the source of their healing energy or something is acting all wonky. I don’t really know, but they’re going to have to heal me the normal way…”
“That’s alright,” Weiss said. “It’s not like we have to be anywhere. Besides, I kind of like it here. I’d like to stay for a while.”
May’s face lit up. “Yeah! Have you seen the sun here? It’s amazing! I mean, I don’t expect you to stay here all day or anything, but you have to get back here by sunset, okay? My room faces the west, so we’ll be able to see it perfectly!”
“I can’t wait, May.” He moved towards the girl, sitting on the side of her bed. “You know, I don’t think I can ever let you out of my sight again. That was too close… I can’t imagine losing you. I don’t know what I would do without you, you know?”
“Yeah, I do.” She put her hand on his. “I’m sorry for scaring you, Weiss. I know I’d feel the same way if something happened to you. Hey, Weiss…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking. What if we just… disappeared?”
“What are you talking about, May?”
“What if we don’t go back home? You know, I don’t think anyone is really missing us right now… They’ll search for a while, but when they don’t find us, nobody will really care. We’ve got no family, no friends… we’ll just disappear. And then we’ll be free from all the crap we’ve had to put up with for the last few years!” Weiss and May were orphans, and had lived together since they were young as part of an experiment. However, as they fell in love, more and more restrictions were put in place to limit contact between the two of them. “We’ll live together, just you and me… like we used to.”
Weiss considered the idea for a moment, and then smiled. “I think that’s a great idea. We’ll figure something out, but first you have to hurry up and get better!”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” May pouted jokingly. “Have a little patience!”
“You’re telling me to be patient? It’s the end of the world! Quick, put a paper bag over your head!”
May giggled, then sat up, slightly wincing in pain, and put her arms around Weiss. “I love you, Weiss,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you too. Don’t leave me, okay?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

After a while, Weiss had to leave, to let the doctors perform tests and procedures on May. He spent most of the day wandering around the city, gathering information about the new land he found himself in. He had come to the Light Realm, the opposite of the realm he had come from. The denizens of this realm were peaceful people, dedicated to helping others. They weren’t as technologically advanced as the Neutral Realm due to their war with the Dark Realm which set them back centuries, but they were a wise race. Knowledge was very important to them: there were many libraries, schools of different sorts, and museums in the city.
After a few hours of drifting aimlessly throughout the city, Weiss noticed the sun going down. The sun here was much larger and brighter than the one he was used to. It bathed the city in a white light, giving everything a shining look. The clouds in the sky had a much cleaner white color than in the Neutral Realm. Weiss didn’t want to miss the sunset, so he hurried back to the hospital.
May was waiting for him in her room, in a loveseat facing the window. She looked much healthier than when he had left earlier that day. Her face was full of color and life, and when Weiss saw her, he couldn’t help but feel that things were all going to turn out alright. He sat beside her, holding her hand as the sun fell below the horizon. The sunset produced dazzling colors against the clouds in the sky, a wide range of fiery reds, bright pinks, and intense yellows. They didn’t say a word to each other as the sun set. Soon after, May fell asleep, her head on Weiss’s shoulder. He gently stroked her hair for a while, and soon fell asleep himself.