Slowly, Finn woke up from his dream.

The world around him came into focus, blurry at first, as his consciousness returned. He was lying on a bed. He couldn’t move. He heard voices.

"But he can’t control it!"

"I don’t care! That bastard is going to be kicked out of the army as soon as possible, and then I’ll execute him myself!"

"That’s going too far!"

"What was that?"

Slowly, Finn tried to sit up. With a soft groan, he moved his limbs. The two voices stopped talking.

"Ah! He’s..."

"Well, look who’s finally awake!" one voice said, and suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shot through him.

In an instant, he was wide awake.

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He let out a soft cry and now recognized the two people standing by his bed, the owners of the voices he had heard.

One belonged to Pinoir, the commander of the 10th unit, who had saved him earlier.

The other matched Feratu, the commander of the 1st unit, who was pressing his fist hard into Finn’s chest, which was covered in bandages.

"You’ve got some nerve waking up right now, you little bastard!" Feratu began, but was interrupted by Pinoir.

"Now’s not the time to interrogate him! He just woke up. We should give him a moment to recover!"

But Feratu shoved Pinoir aside, like pushing away a beggar in the night.

"Why wait? He’s awake now! He can answer our questions just as well!" he said casually, looking at Finn with a contemptuous smile.

"So..." he continued, pressing his fist harder, making Finn suppress his cries of pain.

"Why did you destroy half of Kurani, you filthy little treacherous scum? Hmmm?!"

"Fo... Found! I had... HNGH! I found him!"

"Found? Who?"

"The one the Emperor is searching for! Hah! At first, I didn’t think he existed, but then... he was there! In that tavern! We fought! He was... stronger than I thought. I lost control!... That’s all I remember!"

For a moment, there was silence, except for the distant clattering and rumbling, which no one seemed to notice.

"And we’re supposed to believe that!" Feratu shouted, slamming his fist into Finn’s chest with a loud crack.

Finn let out another scream of pain.

"Stop it, you’re going to..." Pinoir began, but was cut off as the door to the infirmary was kicked open with a loud bang.

A figure, cloaked in a long coat, entered the room.