Esther let him go with a remark of, "Use your brain, Adam."

He woke up, remembered that and realised he couldn't move his eyelids.

Oh Christ, he thought, Not this shit again.

He lay flat atop a soft object. His fingers brushed against synthetic, cold cloth. He lips were dry, his nose breathed in the scent of alcohol and he was unable to move a single muscle to change any of that.

This is Esther's fault.

Actually, it wasn't. Sleep paralysis wasn't a new problem. The first instance occurred in his early teens, in which he spent a good hour frozen in his orphanage bed, staring at a nest of spiders on the ceiling. Here, a faded sallow light basked upon him. An office building? Medbay? The latter. Those cracks in the plaster seemed familiar.

He never got his sleep paralysis checked out. All his money back then went to food, gym membership, bribes or personal savings. Steeldale medical was a dumpsterfire of hack doctors and faulty medicine, unless you grew up in the white-collar districts. The stinging, blistering pains from the Flame Witch's battle had disappeared, replaced by the numbness of gradual recuperation.

It wasn't as if he was shivering in a damp garage, or smelling the rank-ass stench of a homeless person in their tent, or attempting to regain his wits on Parris Island as hunger ate at him after the thirtieth hour…

"…Chosen. He's wounded too. His hands are burned and…"

Voices.

They floated in from above, distinctness dropping in and out like a bad radio.

"Here we are, Saria. It's where I carried him last time post-purification. Ha, that's a little funny. It's been so long…"

Lucy. She wasn't coughing like an addict, though her words still felt heavy. She was safe. That meant they won. He knew, but the confirmation was nice.

"Sheesh, that crack on the wall. The nurses would've had our heads if they…uh, never mind, Lucy! So that's the cryo-tube the Chosen stepped out? Did you find out what happened?"

A second voice. Rougher, lower-pitched, the casual diner girl to Lucy's formality and protocol.

"He's thin. Been eating properly?'

"Mostly rations. The food in the village was…suboptimal, to say the least. Remember history class? Primitive worlds and their lower standards."

"Bet he burned off a lot of calories fighting…any wild game here? I'm gonna hunt something. I wanna eat fresh meat again."

A jolt of horror ran up his back. There were two War Maidens, and they were conversing without him. needed to wake up now, before he got blindsided by whatever dogmatic insanity they planned next. A protest in the form of an angry shout manifested in his mind's front. His tongue failed him, along with his arms and legs. He could only lie there, listening into the snippets of their conversation. He'd done the same back at the orphanage, spying on his sister's private conversations.

Mary's amulet spurred him on harder.

"…You sure he's the Chosen? Aren't those supposed to be girls? Nah? Alright, if you say so, Luce…"

"…mmm, yeah. Get some rest. I'll watch over him. That's my job…still boring."

"…who is this? Communications Operator? Hey, tell me the passcode. What do you mean, it doesn't matter? Don't bark at me like that!"

He wanted to smirk. Alright, maybe this new War Maiden wouldn't be terrible.

"…Lucy, are you…"

"It's fine. It's only been so long. You're right here in front of me, cracking those silly jokes even when…I thought, thought…"

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. I'm not gonna go away again…tell your nightmares to rot in nil, alright?"

"…know. I know. I shouldn't be…I am his sentinel now."

He put forward another burst of mental strength and managed to waggle his finger. The trick was to force sensation on a small organ until the paralysis gave up on its stranglehold and let the rest of his body return to the waking sphere.

"It's so quiet in here. Lucy's off recovering, and you're still asleep. The base is…bleh, it's not worth talking about…"

A shadow loomed above him. Adam tensed up and forced sensation on his left wrist. The shadow twitched and exchanged places, once, twice, thrice. It began to hum a soft, upbeat tune. He imagined it sounded better in reality, because down here it sounded like a drowned animal crying.

Adam bashed his skull against his repose until a crack formed in its metaphorical wall. He climbed up towards the light, his hands and legs now working. Again. Taste, touch, sight and hearing overlaid upon each other. He reached out with his hands, forced his back muscles, grasping at the jumbled worlds…

…woke up to the sight of Saria Alcott leaning above him, her index finger poking his cheek. Their eyes locked. Adam's breath caught in his throat. Saria's mouth held agape. A drop of water splashed onto the ground from the crack in the ceiling, and ADOSCH dumped text in his vision.

User Adam Westfield has 3 unspent Biometric Keys.

"Fuck!"

Mystics flared on both sides. [Psycho-Push] shoved Saria's head back, her neck muscles straining against his effort. She broke out of his gasp as a glowing orange aura surrounded her upper body. She rolled off the bed, clutched the ground with both palms and flipped a whole 360, twisting her body in mid-air to land facing him. The orange aura blazed into a coating of fire, somehow not damaging her clothes in the process.

Adam saw the fire, smelled the faint wispy smoke, and his head throbbed. His hands were covered in bandages that rubbed painfully as he made a fist. Flame Witch. Fight her.

No. He told himself.

This wasn't a Witch. She was a human. A War Maiden, a living weapon of Astraea, dogmatic and horrifying in their fervor, but a human nonetheless. He couldn't risk upsetting her. He needed to stay cool. Keep up the façade of an obedient Chosen. Think about ways to break her limbs later!

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Saria Alcott." Adam said.

"The Chosen." Saria said back. She peered at him, her gaze flicking across the bandages on his chest up to his shoulders. "Hey, you're finally up! I thought you were going to sleep for a few more days. You want to put those down?"

Oh.

At some point, his plasma synapses had activated [Psychokinesis]. The mystic gathered junk off the floor and ground and sent it hovering in circles around his near vicinity like a localized tornado. He flexed his synapses and found he now levitated multiple objects at a time. When—no, how? This was a sign of improved control, wasn't it? Not just from the boost to his PRECISION, but also from the Goddess's gift.

Adam tipped his index finger upward, keeping the objects in the air. Saria watched them. He kept one eye on her, the other focused on his status.

Vitality: 70%

Plasma: 90%

No burnout this time. He fingered the air around his neck. The amulet held firm.

Thank god.

You saved me twice, Mary. Love you.

"I don't like people touching me in my sleep. The hell were you doing on my body in the first place?" Adam said.

"Nothing!" Saria said, putting her hands up. Embers swarmed around like fireflies. Adam gave her a flat stare. She blushed.

New mystic technique observed: [Pyro-Aura]. Confirmed usage of mystic [Pyrokinesis].

"Okay, it was something, Chosen. Call it a mini-checkup. It was weird that you slept so long after we injected you with medicine and dressed up your wounds. I know, because I've done first-aid before. You were sleeping well, but not waking up and I sorta wanted to talk to you, so I decided to apply some encouragement.

"By poking me in the face." Adam said, folding his arms.

"It's worked on kids before!" Saria protested.

"Yeah, because that's how bedcare works." Adam said, shaking his head. "Besides, do I look like a kid to you? I'm eighteen!"

"Sheesh, I didn't know, alright? No need to get so uppity in the morning. It's no big deal, Mr. Chosen." Saria said. "We're all lucky to be alive. You must be fine if you can wave your arms about that right now."

"How is that related to anything? You're the one who decided to pull that—"

Adam growled and ran a palm on his face before the rant exploded further out of his mouth. Another headache. This one hurt like a spike instead of a hammer. It was way too early to deal with this mess. He needed a shower, a meal and a debrief.

He relaxed his mystic grip and let the objects drop to the floor. A bedside holo-clock emitter, a roll of bandages and the shell of a medkit. He threw the covers off him and discovered someone had stripped him of his uniform, reducing him to a shirt and a pair of boxers. More bandages were strapped to his lower torso and legs. He gave one a cursory touch and winced at the pain. Burns took time to heal. At least he had [Regeneration] this time.

"Are you sure you're eighteen? 'Cause you're a little short." Saria remarked.

Adam bristled. "The hell did you say?"

"It's true!" Saria said. She spread her arms apart in a vertical fashion, one hand above her waist and the other at the joint between her ponytail at the rest of her head. "Most of the guys in the ADP have torsos like this long. And you? You're like that, and that is two-thirds the size of this, which adds up to being below the average of tallness among all the dudes I've met and—"

"This is the first time someone's called me short and I already hate it." Adam said.

"It's fine. You're still the Chosen. Sorry for breaking the bad news, though." Saria said.

"It's not the damn truth! I'm tall from where I come from."

"Seriously? What colony?"

"The one that popped out of Uranus." Adam snapped.

Saria frowned. She pressed a few fingers to her chin, developing a contemplative expression. "Never heard of that one. Is it on the outer rim?"

"Oh my fucking god—" Lucy's reaction was the same, wasn't it? Why couldn't he be saddled with his fellow countrymen? All the girls he knew back home were either dumbasses or scheming witches, but at least they understood the solar system!

"It's one without good food, I bet." Saria said.

"It was—never mind, I'm not blabbing. You don't deserve an answer after insulting me to my face."

"What?" Saria exclaimed. She stepped forward, pouting like a lost puppy, "Come on, Adam! Tell me! It's my first time meeting a Chosen, a guy one at that! I'm super curious!"

"Don't touch me." Adam said, sliding back. He sniffed his nose. "Hey, is that smoke?"

"What?" Saria turned around, her mystic still active. She noticed the flames spouting out of the nearest garbage can. A few of her embers leaked out of it.

"Oh crap!"

She switched off her mystic and scrambled for the nearby fire extinguisher. Too late. A shrill fire alarm blared, casting the hallway outside in flickering red and blue lights. Saria squeezed the gun-esque trigger on the fire extinguisher and blasted the bin with a wave of sticky white foam. The fire sputtered out. Good. The room smelled of a bitterness like coffee dregs mixed with hospital floors. Bad.

Lucy burst into the room, limping on one leg. Her hair as cut short and white bandages patches clung to her neck, forehead and arms. "Chosen! Saria! Are you two…"

Her gaze swept across the guilty looking Saria, still clutching the fire extinguisher, and her worry crystallized into a darkening glare.

Adam pointed at Saria. "She started it."

"Er…" Saria said, placing the fire extinguisher down on a table. "It's been a while since I used mystics?"

----------------------------------------

A War Maiden knelt on the ground. Her head hung low, like a scolded child. Her friend stood in front of her, waggling her figure and spouting off lines as the angry teacher. Adam scooped up a wad of leathery-brown grains mixed with meat broth and shoved it in his mouth. Yeah, that hit the spot. It tasted almost as good as the instant ramen.

"This is the Chosen, Saria."

"I know, I know…"

"Her Providence sent him down here on a divine mission to save us. He purified the corruption of me, you, and one of our signal beacons, and you decided to wake him up like that."

"I'm sorry, Luce." Saria said. She had spent the previous quarter of an hour tidying up the room, muttering and grumbling about boys. It was a far cry from the noble, stalwart depictions of War Maidens he saw in ADOSCH's propaganda videos.

"Apologise to him, not to me!"

He watched Saria slump her shoulders. Lucy huffed, her arms folded, as if her plasma burnout was a thing of the past. Adam swallowed another spoonful to prevent himself from giggling. Miriam had mentioned Lucy to be a 'First Class Novice'. Adam had suspected it involved a form of leadership duties, and his predictions turned out to be correct.

Regardless of their ranks, he had to deal with Saria now. First impressions were negative, despite the incident being her fault, and he needed to rectify that if he wanted to keep her on his side. He shovelled down the rest of his breakfast, gulped the cup of water, and placed the tray aside.

"It's cool, Lucy." Adam said. "Accidents happen. No need to get bent out of shape."

Lucy turned to him. He tensed as she studied him, in a way that felt neither hostile nor friendly. When she opened her mouth, her tone was neutral and composed, as if her joy had decided to take a day off. "It's not right, Chosen. You were suffering from low plasma count and smoke inhalation when we brought you here. Saria's actions could have triggered a relapse."

"Yeah, but it didn't."

"It may have, and it's not acceptable."

"Eh, I don't care anymore." Adam said, waving his hand. "That MRE you cooked was great and I'm feeling much better. I can't be assed to get mad at Saria."

Saria perked up at this. Lucy wasn't impressed. She simply nodded at her and said,

"Very well, Chosen. I'll leave it for now. Saria, if you will?"

Saria moved to kneel down before him, this time on one knee. She bowed, and a hand rested on her uniform above her head. A wide grin stretched between her freckles. She tucked her ponytail behind her the back of her head and intoned the words.

"I'm Saria Alcott, War Maiden of Astraea, and I greet you, Her Chosen. Thanks for purifying me of that corruption and making me human again. My heart, body and souls are yours to command, so count on me as much as you want!"

She held the position there for a few seconds. Then she broke the stance and lifted her head.

"That good?"

Saria Alcott has been registered in the War Maiden Registry.

A new instance of [War Maidens' Bond] has been developed. Activate it to discover its capabilities.

"Yeah." Adam said, before Lucy could open her mouth. "All good."

He extended a hand and Saria shook it. "Glad to be working with you."

"Same here, Chosen!"

Adam glanced behind Saria. Lucy, even in her tempered mood, couldn't help but smile at the sight.. She patted Saria on the back, whispered 'Good job' into her ear, and let go.

"So, where's Penny?" Adam asked. "She ain't here. Did you lock her in her room again?"

At that, Saria and Lucy's good mood vanished. Saria let out a puff of air and gestured towards Lucy, who nodded. She pulled a chair and sat on it next to his bedside.

"Chosen, please understand that this isn't your fault." Lucy said, steeping her hands.

"Huh? What's up?"

"Penny is gone. She has deserted us, Chosen."