Henceforth, waking up may never feel as good as it felt now to Rain for the most part of his life.

The crisp view of the blue horizon. The sharp earthy scent of dampened soil due to the rain that had fallen on the day past. The caws of the mutated birds roaming the skies. Everything just felt… refreshing. And of course that was all because of where he had spent the night.

After his carnivorous act of ripping into the heart of the Anaconda he killed—the flavor of nothing to write home about, obviously—the Plexus blessed Rain with messages which eased the two fears that originated from his possession of the mysterious Mark of Caduceus.

[Asklepios accepts your offering]...

[Side Character Rain Leclair will not be punished]…

Phew… With his lips stained by the thickness of blood, and his tongue caressed by a metallic undertone of uncooked flesh, Rain sighed in relief at the confirmation of his life’s safety.

[The seal of the Mark of Caduceus has been reinstated]...

[Side Character Rain Leclair has reverted back to his original form]…

The appearance of the rest of the Plexus’s messages made the first sense of relief Rain felt to pale in comparison to his current one.

Of course he was glad to have survived an ordeal so baffling that it determined if he would live or die; but… having to live on in a half-human half-beast form would have been quite the peril.

That, though, was resolved now. He was back to who he was—to who he used to be. Well, without his memories, actually.

It was at that moment of visible joy and scrutinizing of his body that Rain saw the dark color painting the clouds dim into a more darker tone. Though, that was not all. The sky was slowly overshadowed by something grayish and thick.

The fog…

He realized at once. Although, its arrival was unusual.

Rain could not recall how exactly he knew, but he felt like the coming of fogs usually began from the horizons and slowly spread out, filling more areas until they had covered every nook and cranny possible—well, as far as they could reach.

But this fog was not acting that way.

Just like the raindrops falling from the sky, so did the fog descend. It did not come from the edges of the earth as it was probably inclined to, but as though it was a thick, ethereal blanket thrown over earth by a giant more massive than the world itself, it poured down quickly by the second from above.

Each moment something vanished. Spires, poles, houses, something somewhere just vanished. And Rain knew that if he remained where he was gaping, he too would vanish, and not just into the fog, but away from life.

Although, there was a problem. There was no shade for him to take cover in.

His house was riddled with holes and broken windows, he could not go in there. The parking garage and a few other sheds he could glimpse some ways ahead were in the same state too. If there was a place that could accommodate and keep him safe, it would have to be one that wasn’t within his home’s boundaries. But there was no guarantee that he had enough time to find those.

Since it came down to that, he had only one option left.

Rain looked at the prideful Anaconda he had killed, its enormously large body sprawled across the wreckage of a ground like a fallen elastic tower with curves for a body; then his gaze shifted towards the hole he had opened up in its neck. There was no fleshy muscle separating its innermost system from the outside world.

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Damn it!

Rain gritted his teeth and stuffed just enough broken debris from the driveway into the hole in the snake’s body so that there was no inlet for the fog to make its way in. After which he pulled open its mouth and jumped into it, shutting himself within the suffocating smell and darkness there. At least it was not as bad as when he had been in its stomach, so he could endure it. Now, all that was left was for the night to pass without any problems.

And, thankfully, it did.

Rain had not heard the human voices Alice had talked about, and the Anaconda that had served as his shelter was not eaten.

He’d spent most of the night on high alert, uneasy that his notion on beasts being safe from the Wraiths would be proven untrue. But down the line he’d fallen asleep without his own consent.

Well, whether it was because his notion was correct, or maybe because the Anaconda was dead, nothing had happened, so it was alright.

On the other hand, his goal to trigger his memories through his house failed woefully.

There had not been a single thing of substance in the building. Besides the furniture and appliances, which had all been overrun by desolation, there were no pictures or books or monuments that linked towards a family having lived in the home. He further went to ransack the garage and the rest of the buildings in the vicinity, but it was the same no matter where he searched.

Why was his home so empty? Had he come to the wrong address? Surely not. He wasn’t so foolish that he’d misread the map and missed his way. He had come to the right place, certainly.

Being smacked square in the face by failure momentarily left Rain in a daze.

If his own house couldn’t provide him with what he sought, then how would he regain his memories? Where else would he be able to find anything so strong to trigger his recollection of the past?

There was only one answer to that. His family. If he could find his family he would surely get himself back. And the best place to start his searching was obviously the apparent biggest faction in the world, the GEF. Even if his family members weren’t there, clues to where they were might be. In the meantime, he would keep trying his best to decipher the information in his medical file. Something as well may be lying there in secret.

His whole reasoning was now based on the hope he disliked—hope that he might find his family in the GEF; hope that he might find clues; hope that he might find anything… anything at all. It was either that or he gave up, and there was no way in hell he was giving up on getting himself back.

The world was already fucking him in the ass, he would not let his amnesia do that to him too.

That train of thought was what spurred Rain to return quickly back to the M&S mall which served as his shade for most of the already ended storm.

The brightness of the clouds told him it was not yet seven a.m. In other words, there would still be people expecting his arrival at the store. After such a perilous short journey, he would definitely be received warmly…

“...You’re crazy.”

Or not.

“Rain, you stink!” Rain’s eyes twitched.

While pinching his nose, Sean was the second one to drive a wedge into his heart upon his arrival at the store; of course, Alice was the first.

Then there was J, his Companion who had been so annoyed at him leaving without her. She was… circling around his legs?

Why? Rain had a confused look on his face.

Weren’t wild cats in possession of sensitive noses? If humans like him were keeping their distances, then a Jaguar should be even farther away.

Rain didn’t think too much on the details, though. She was the only one not running away from him, so he had to show his appreciation.

Smiling, Rain squatted, hugged his Companion, and rubbed her chin, inciting a purr from her. After that, he looked at Alice and Sean, they were already fully packed and about to leave. He had made it back in the nick of time.

Sighing, Rain said, “Can you give me a second to change into new clothes? It won't take long.”

The beating he’d received, as well as the digestive acids in the Anaconda’s stomach, had dealt a great damage to his clothes. He was of the mind to select something similar, though. The hoodie was perfect against the rain, and the cargo trouser was quite free and good for complicated movement—those he’d tested firsthand. As for his combat boots… as expected, they were fine.

“The smell on your body will ruin the new set of clothes too.” Rain frowned at Alice’s words, but he was happy. On her and Sean’s faces there were obvious signs of relief due to him returning alive.

She really wasn’t as bad as she was trying to make herself seem.

Taking her jab at him for a yes, Rain stood up and proceeded to the clothes aisle with J in tow. It was then that Sean opened his mouth to let free what seemed to have been swirling about in his head all this while.

“I’m glad you came back, Rain!” the boy voiced. “I’ll hug you when you take a bath, in return can you tell me what happened? You had a great adventure, right?”

A hug for a story? That’s not an equivalent exchange, is it? Are you trying to scam me, you little…?

Rain looked over his shoulder and curled up his lips regardless of his thoughts on Sean’s deal. “Sure. On the way to Manchester.”