Max was running for her life with several terrified people.  The agonized screams of those that were too slow resounding behind them. Max turned her head back only to be filled with even greater terror.  There were at over a dozen set of glowing red eyes behind them.  FUCK!  She didn't need to see those things clearly to know what was chasing them.  Three foot long rats that were known as Sadist Rats.  As their name implied, they delight causing as much fear and suffering as possible to all that they feed on.  Once their victim is dead though, they will ignore even the tastiest of flesh.  One of her companions saw those things and screamed.  The rats let out squeels of delight as they slowly gained on them.  One by one her fellows were introduced to their own personal hell.  Their screams of agony slowly trailing behind her.  Eventually it was just her and another girl. Without a second thought, Max tripped her to buy herself more time to get away.  Max didn't turn back to watch her fate and only closed her eyes as she sprinted ahead. She didn't get far when she ran into something.  She rebounded off of it and landed on her ass.  She saw a huge bear five feet tall at the shoulder with fur blacker than night, a Terror Bear.  She quickly turned around to run away before it could attack and saw the girl getting her arms and legs torn apart by the rats.  The scary part was the girl wasn't screaming.  The girl slowly morphed into Emily.  "Why did you leave me to die?" she said mournfully.  Max couldn't answer her as one of the rats bit her neck showing Max in blood.  Max wanted to scream, but the Terror Bear struck her it's massive paw causing her to explode into a mess of body parts.

Max jerked awake while covered in sweat.  She pants heavily for several second before calming down.  She reminded herself that it had just been a dream.  It was monday morning.  She had been having that same nightmare for the past three days.  She understood why Emily had appeared in the dream.  It was her own subconscious giving her a guilt trip for treating the girl so badly.  She didn't exactly like her all that much, but she was the only person she has spoken more than a few words to since being reincarnated as a girl.  She played with the thought of taking Emily with her when Max hightailed it out of the city.  She couldn't think of any thing that would convince the girl to come with Max, without revealing what she is.  Unfortunately, every likely scenario under that pretext would almost universally resulted in Emily fleeing while under the impression that Max was an insane freak.  On the other hand, if she waited for the essence beast horde to arrive as her proof, events playing out like her nightmare was a real possibility.  Why am I even considering this?  Am I really that lonely?    

After getting some breakfast and a shower, she was driven to school by her mother as usual.  She walked to the library and pulled out a blank notebook.  She hesitated for a moment before jotting down her cultivation method, illistrations included.  On the extremely unlikely chance that Emily believed her, it would make teaching Emily easier.  It didn't take her long to finish it.  Her cultivation method was rather simple afterall.  She stuffed the notebook into her backpack before heading to class.  She wished her classes would go by faster, but the more she wished it the slower they seemed to go.  Her math teacher called out to her to solve a problem on the board because he thought she wasn't paying attention.  She shut him up by instantly answering the question on the board.  By the time lunch came around, she couldn't have been any more bored.  After sitting down with her lunch, she wondered if Emily would come again, but it was unlikely after the teasing she gave her on Friday.  She didn't even bother looking for her.  No one else was even at her table. She began eating in solitude.

She had gotten half-way through her food when Emily sat down next to her.  Max glanced at her.  Why is she here?  Not that I am complaining, but didn't I chase her off.  Emily looked like she wanted to say something, but was afraid of the Max reaction.  "Back for more?"  Max said in a half-hearted playful manner.  

"No," Emily said while looking down at her tray.  She sat up straight and turned her head toward Max.  "I know."  Every muscle in Max's body stiffened up in sudden fear.  She knew immediately that she shouldn't have done that.  It was the same as confirming whatever conclusions Emily had made.  

"I am sorry.  That was a test," Emily said apologetically.  Max looked at Emily out of the coner of her eye.  Emily had a pure look of sympathy on her face.  Max looks back down at her tray of food.  Since that cat is so clearly out of the bag, I might as well run with it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Why do you care?"  Max said morosely.    

"I shouldn't care.  But... after I complained about you to my grandpa, he made me realize you might have been abused and that your antics were a way to reach out to me."   

"I wasn't reaching out to you at all.  I kissed you because I thought you were cute and it is really fun to watch your reaction as I tease you," Max answered.  Emily started to get embarressed and angry based on her expression at hearing that, but it quickly vanished as Max continued to speak.  "But you are right.  My dad is a bastard that beats his own daughter." 

"You need to go to the police.  They can put him behind bars where he belongs," Emily pleaded.

Max was seriously considering telling Emily why she wasn't going to do that.  "What would going to the police accomplish exactly?  My mother has been covering my father's tracks for years and she is very good at it.  It would be their word against mine at this point," Max said.

"What about all the times you came to school with bruises?" Emily suggested. 

"My mother forced me to drink something when I was nine to make my platelet count plummet before I got a blood test when the doctors were trying to explain my frequent bruises.  Whatever it was couldn't be detected by a normal blood test.  They diagnosed me with a low, but not dangerously low, platelet count, which would account for my bruising.  Didn't you wonder why the school hadn't brought that up before now?" Max refuted.  Sadly, her mother had indeed done that. 

"He couldn't have avoided breaking your bones right?" Emily was starting to grasp at straws.  

"You are right.  My left arm and a few ribs on the same side.  It happened when I was ten.  I believe mother told the doctor that I fell off my bike onto some rocks after she and father foolishly agreed to my incessant requests for one," Max said, "That supposed bike is still in the garage.  I never did get to ride it."    

"That's horrible.  How did the doctors not figure it out?"  Emily asked.

"I was only ever taken to the hospital for my arm and ribs.  Dad was oddly careful not to beat me so hard I needed medical attention after that incident," Max said.  Max stuffed a few pieces of her lunch into her mouth while she waited for Emily to say or ask something else.  

"I am so sorry," Emily said as she put a comforting hand on Max's shoulder.

"Your word of sympathy won't change my situation or my past," Max stated.  

"My grandpa can help," Emily spoke confidently.

"And who is your grandpa?  How could some old man help me?" Max asked not believing that Emily's grandpa could really do anything.

"My grandpa is General Mckenzy and even if he can't, he will know someone who can."  Max felt as if she had been hit by a lightning bolt.  That is the heartless bastard that is putting those damn collars on essence cultivators.  There is no way that I am that unlucky.  But why don't I ever hearing about that guy having a grand daughter or any relative for that matter.  Max didn't like thinking about the answer. 

"Hey what's wrong?  You got pale all the sudden."  Emily's voice shook Max out of her own thoughts.

Max stood up.  "I'm not sure.  I am going to the nurse's office," Max said.  She grabbed her back and did just that.  She heard the bell ring while the nurse checked her vitals and got a pass to return to class.  Her remaining hours of class went by much faster than those this morning.  

When Max got home, she only left her room to get dinner.  Otherwise she remained in a cultivation state with a textbook infront of her up until it was bed time.  She was anxious about tomarrow.  She would gather the last essence strand that she needed for entering the copper stage during her morning classes and form her essence core during lunch.  It shouldn't take more than thirty minutes.  At that time her would-be stalker should still in the high school and Max should be well out of range of his essence radar.  She just hopes nothing goes wrong tomorrow.