Feeling the soft embrace of a bed beneath me, I weakly managed to open one eye to the sound of gentle beeping nearby. The room was dark, but the city light outside provided just enough illumination for me to see that I was in a hospital bed somewhere. I moved my fingers and felt the skin pull as I realised I had a cannula in the back of each hand, one with a tube leading off the bed. I shifted my leg and realised there was a heavy weight on them, looking down to see Mum asleep atop them, her head resting on my knee.

I rolled my head to the other side to see a man sitting on the couch, wearing sunglasses, but his head was tilted back, and I assumed he was asleep with his mouth wide open, enough for me to toss in some popcorn. An ID badge hung from his left breast pocket, but I couldn’t read the name beneath the picture; however, I could tell from the colours of the logo that he was from the Ministry of Defence and Arcane Matters. It had been established to monitor licensed monster hunters like me, as well as the rifts, and I presumed he was here to speak with me when I awoke.

"Oh, my poor baby. I thought you would never wake up,” Mum suddenly exclaimed, having undoubtedly felt me shift my leg. “My poor baby.”

The lights suddenly flickered on in the room, causing me to squint against the abrupt brightness, and I heard more voices enter. Mum was gently led away from me by one of the nurses, who began to escort her outside. However, I noticed that the man had removed his sunglasses and was watching me intently. My face was turned away from his to look up at the doctor standing over me, observing my vital signs on the screens and glancing at me occasionally.

“Sadie, I need you to look at me. I’m Doctor Linda. Can you tell me where you are?” she asked.

“A hospital,” I replied, “but I don’t know where I am.” There were no buildings outside that I could recognise, as it was dark, but I presumed I was likely still in London.

“Very good,” she smiled, raising a finger. “Follow my finger, dear, from side to side. Does it hurt anywhere?”

Upon hearing this, I froze slightly and recalled the torturous agony in my back, yet I couldn’t feel it now. I attempted to lift my arm, and she observed, but I allowed it to fall limply as I sensed my weakness. Most of the pain in my back had subsided, but my skin felt tight, and I recognised the sensation of the stitches pulling my skin back together. It was a familiar feeling from previous injuries, albeit never quite to this extent.

“Not really,” I replied hesitantly, shifting my body slightly. “It’s like a dull ache all over, and my back feels tight.”

“Alright, that’s good. Open wide for a moment.” She instructed, and I sensed the latex of her glove as it moved my tongue around before she pulled it back. “Thank you. I’ll be back in a few moments; I just wish to have a word with your mother outside; call for me if the pain increases, and we can increase the dosage of the painkillers.”

Stepping away, she paused beside the strange man and leaned in to whisper, and I managed to catch her words: “She’s lucid and isn’t displaying any cognitive issues at this time, but she needs rest, so don’t push her.”

“Thank you, doctor, I shan't be long,” he replied, before reaching down to retrieve a notebook and a pen.

“Sadie, my name is Terence from-” he began, but I interrupted him.

“The Ministry, you all look the same,” I didn't mean to be unkind, but a knot twisted in my stomach at the mere presence of him here.

“Yes, I hear that often,” he chuckled before taking a seat on a chair he drew a bit closer. “Two weeks ago, you emerged alone from the Tier One dungeon, Wolf’s Lair. Could you share what occurred?”

"I..." I stammered, “Was I truly the only one?” I asked, tears welling in my eyes as I recalled seeing Josie’s limp body hanging from it’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he said regretfully, closing his eyes and bowing his head. “There were no other survivors. Could you tell me what happened? As much as you can?”

Rapidly huffing as I tried to control my sobs, he handed me a box of tissues from the table adorned with flowers. I wiped my face, mixing snot and tears while struggling to breathe. After a few minutes, he sat there patiently watching me, but I didn’t see any malice or accusation in his eyes.

“We had just arrived in the boss’s cavern, and that’s where things got screwed up. Everything before that was fine, and we had no issues, but then…” I said, struggling to catch my breath. “My job was to retrieve the alpha’s crystal, and I was going to gather its pelt as it was in good condition, but it wasn’t dead—maybe playing dead.” I said quietly as he wrote down everything I said. “My knife couldn’t pierce its skin, so I was going to ask Michael to do it, but he had gone off with the strike squad.”

“Why did he go? Did he say anything? Was he acting suspicious?” With his pen poised for my reply, I sensed his eyes probing for any sign of hesitation.

“Michael? No! Never! I assume he led the others away in search of a survivor, as they believed the alpha was dead and we didn’t feel the completion pulse.” Recounting the rest of the story in a fragmented manner, I described what I observed as I lay where Bill had dragged me to the side.

“Did you notice anything else? Did Michael or any of the others return?”

"I..." I began, but stopped short as I held back.

“Sadie, please, I need to know everything.”

“It… It spoke to me… the wolf said it would kill me for killing its pack. I’m sorry, it’s silly, forget I said anything, I was probably delirious from the pain,” I said, shaking my head, but I noticed he continued writing.

“It spoke to you? Are you certain?” he asked, putting down his pen and staring at me intensely.

“Check the cameras; there should be a recording on my helmet,” I said, leaning forward and wincing in pain, forcing myself down before he could push me back.

“We... tried,” he admitted, taking a moment to consider his words. “The memory card from your camera was missing, and we only managed to capture footage of the first two hours as it was passed through the relay. Everyone else’s cameras were completely destroyed. One last question: do you know who brought you back to the entrance?”

Shaking my head, I had no answer to offer. How could I even begin to explain the voice in my head and the black wolf that licked me? His piercing glare remained fixed on me, but after one or two more notes, he snapped his notebook shut and reached inside his jacket. I tensed for a moment as he slowed his movements upon noticing my reaction and carefully pulled out a white card. Placing it on the table beside me, I realised it was adorned with flowers and cards that read ‘get well soon’.

“I know you’ve just woken up and may have forgotten something, but if it comes back to you, please do come and visit me so it can be added to the report. Get well soon.” Standing up, he placed his hand on my shoulder as if to reassure me before walking towards the door.

Reaching over, I picked it up to examine it, and upon seeing his title, a wave of dread washed over me. He was an Adjudicator, one who investigated murders and crimes within the dungeons. “I didn’t kill my friends, please believe me,” I cried out, more tears brimming in my eyes, as he paused at the door and glanced back over his shoulder.

“I understand, Sadie. We believe the rift was misclassified as a Tier-One dungeon, rather than the Tier Three designation that we now believe it to be. My investigation aims to determine whether the mistake was ours or if an anomaly occurred while you were inside. Based on your report, I believe it was beyond our control and something we could not prevent.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Stepping outside, he closed the door behind him as I covered my eyes with my hands and began to cry once more. My best friend from the Academy was gone, and I had watched her die, attempting to avenge me when she should have fled. I tried to stifle my sobs when I realised I could hear the conversation outside the door and noticed the thin sliver of light streaming in after he had turned the lights off again.

“Thank you, Mrs Whittaker, for allowing me to speak with your daughter. I had a few things I needed to find out.”

“Well, did you find them? I told you she couldn’t have done all that; you’ve seen her records, I’m sure.” She snapped at him with a hint of vitriol in her voice. It seemed they weren’t the best of friends as she stormed into the room and slammed the door shut in anger. When she saw me looking at her, with tears streaming down her face, she dashed into the bathroom and shut the door, abandoning me.

“Doctor Blossom,” I heard, and realised that the door had opened slightly after Mum had slammed it. “Were there any abnormalities in her CT scans while she was asleep?”

“Her CT scans? They were perhaps the most normal aspect of Miss Whittaker. Her Thaum levels are nearly non-existent, and I would have attributed it to mana fatigue, but her capacity remains the same as when she was born. We had to surgically remove her monitoring device as it had fused to her wrist due to the overload of power she experienced.”

“What sort of overload are we discussing?” Terence inquired, and I found myself equally intrigued, straining my ears to catch the conversation and holding my breath.

“She was wearing a top-of-the-range model, one that could be connected to the hospital’s emergency generator without breaking a sweat. I spoke with the manufacturer to find out, and they had tested it to three hundred thousand Thaums. An overload of that magnitude should have reduced her to ash,” the doctor said, her voice dropping to a whisper as the door closed, cutting me off from their conversation.

The bathroom door clicked open before shutting again, and Mum shuffled across the room to sit next to me in the chair where she had been sleeping earlier. She took my hand in hers, gently rubbing her thumb across my fingers to avoid the cannula, and placed one hand on the side of my face. “I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried sick. Do you need anything? Are you comfortable?” she asked sweetly.

“I’m… fine…” I struggled to say hoarsely, reliving those moments that felt like they had happened only a few minutes ago, again and again. “I just…” I attempted to say before I started crying once more, and she sat on the bed beside me and pulled me close.

“Shh, it’s alright now. I’m here, you’re fine, you’re safe.”

“But they’re not. Josie… I watched her die in its jaws. Her eyes… they just stared at me as if accusing me of her death. "How do you simply move on from something like that?" I wept, attempting to raise my arms to wrap around her.

“Josie would never accuse you of that. Don’t tarnish your last memories of someone by thinking they hated you. Cherish the moments you shared together and hold onto them. Michael, Trevor, Bill, Sonia, Tony, Arthur, Max, and Josie—I’m sure they fought bravely, and one of them managed to rescue you,” she said sadly.

I couldn’t respond because of the lump in my throat; I merely nodded and sniffed heavily, unable to bring myself to tell her about the bigger wolf. When she heard this, she pulled away, wiped my nose, and looked me in the eyes. I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and she kissed me on the forehead before pulling me close again.

“At the funerals, everyone was inquiring about you, seeking an update, and hoping that you were recovering. You were incredibly fortunate, which many do not experience. I harbour no resentment towards those who brought Joe home. I am grateful that they managed to bring him back as they did, along with everyone else who lost someone that day.”

“OK.” was all I could manage to say, my voice muffled by her clothes. I inhaled the faint traces of her perfume, which helped to calm me down a bit.

After spending a few more minutes like that, she eventually pulled away. “Doctor Linda has asked me to head home for the night to let you rest. I haven’t been back in, what, three or four days?” She sighed and pulled her sleeve as if peeling it off her skin. “I need a shower and some clean clothes. Get some rest, and I’ll be back in the morning. Would you like me to bring you anything? Chocolate? More books?”

“No, I’m fine; however, please let me know before you come in case I think of something at the last minute,” I said.

“That’s fine; your phone is on the table beneath one of the piles of cards. I stopped by your apartment to see if there was anything you might want when you woke up."

“Oh…” I replied bashfully, realising her tone.

“Mhmm hmm,” she hummed, pursing her lips and gazing at me. “I don’t know how you manage to live like that. Plus, the place is dark and dreary; why don’t you just move back in with me? It wouldn’t take more than a single trip to get everything back, and I’ll cover the cost of breaking your rental agreement early.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said, kissing her on the cheek as she turned to walk away.

“Alright, sleep well, sweety; I’ll see you in the morning. Lights on or off?”

“Off, please. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Finally alone once more, I lay in the dim orange light cast by the road below the window. I couldn’t hear anything, but I noticed the occasional blue flashes or headlights reflecting off the top of the window frame. Grimacing as I sat up, pushing my pillows down to support me, I reached for my phone and switched it on. Almost immediately, there was an influx of messages from people responding to the incident, wishing me well. I smiled at the number of people who had sent me a message, including a few former classmates who I had thought might have forgotten about me by now.

Holding off from responding to anyone and preferring to wait until tomorrow, I began searching online to see if anyone had ever mentioned talking monsters. There were tens of thousands of search results, yet none about actually encountering a talking monster. There were fictional stories, fan fictions, pleas from animal groups, smut—so much smut—but nothing about what I sought. Crestfallen, I was about to give up when I recalled what it had said.

“Guardian,” I mumbled to myself as I typed it in. There were just as many search results for this, but covering an even broader range of topics. It was such a common word that I gave up and switched my phone off in frustration. As I reached over to place the phone back on the table, I noticed a shining blue light. Picking up more than a dozen cards, I discovered the necklace that Mum had given me, commemorating Connor’s first kill.

Lifting the necklace off the table, I let it dangle in front of my face, captivated by its appearance. No longer just a dull blue colour, it shone as if it were concealed within a corpse. Once I extracted the stones, they would instantly lose their shine, becoming like any other murky blue crystal, but this one gleamed as though it was illuminated from within. When I touched it with my finger, it felt strangely warm, yet there was something else, as if it were watching me.

Reaching out towards the window, a shimmer appeared in the air, and my hand slid inside, disappearing into the ripples. Waving my hand around, I looked at it in confusion. My diary and bag of mana stones were missing from the small storage space that seemed to be unique to me. Painfully swinging my legs out of bed, I leaned forward to reach in further, trying to find the stone wall that should be several inches from the entrance. Tripping over one of the many tubes attached to me, I accidentally stumbled inside, feeling my bare feet transition from the plastic faux wooden floor of the hospital to cool, grainy stone.

Blinking rapidly, I struggled to comprehend what had happened to the small box that it had once been ever since I discovered it as a child. A veil of mist blew gently across the grey stone floor, and I could feel the breeze stirring it as it wiggled between my toes. It was impossible to determine the size of the place since there were no walls or points of reference, just a peculiar haze that emitted light all around me. Turning to look the other way, I saw the ripples in the air where my tubes, still connected to me, vanished back to the hospital on the other side.

As I placed one foot backwards to leave, I felt myself step on something and reached down to find my diary and my stash of mana stones—my small emergency reserve. Flicking through the pages to ensure everything was alright, something caught my eye on the last page, and a cold sensation washed over me. Hurriedly pulling back the pages, I found a note written in neat handwriting on the back page. Looking around fearfully, I couldn’t hear anything apart from my own heartbeat, and I subconsciously felt afraid—very afraid.

The Isle holds the answers you seek, child.

I suggest you gather some Guardians for this realm; it feels rather quiet and lonely.

R.

There it was again, I thought, glaring at the word, "Guardians." First, that wolf mentioned it, almost spitting the word out in disgust, and now this note left for me. I had poked my head through the ripples before, banging it against the stone wall just inches from the entrance, but had this place been here all along, and had they removed the wall? Snapping the book closed, I lifted the cloth bag, hurriedly untying the loose knot, revealing over a dozen—triple the number of mana stones I had squirrelled away in it. Looking around nervously, I couldn’t see anyone trying to hide, but the mist made it impossible to tell for certain.

Returning to the hospital room, I noticed it was warmer on this side, yet I looked back, yearning for the tranquillity the other place provided. Climbing back into bed, the rippling portal faded away, leaving no trace of its presence behind.