I looked back at the gross corpse of the monster I had killed and felt awkward at the fact that I was proud to be able to say that I was responsible. “Catherine!” My father's loud voice cut right through the blurry noise that was filling my head as I began to feel faint. “Get her back to the house and clean her off. Chemical burns and frostbite are the most immediate concerns.”

As he spoke the girl he was yelling for brought her horse to a full stop just in front of him. He effortlessly threw me through the air, and she caught me almost just as easily before beginning to ride away. “Getting into trouble again?” She said with a smirk as we took off.

“H-hey, aren't you supposed to be proud, I killed that thing you know…” Catherine looked down at me when she heard the shakiness in my voice and went into a full gallop. As we passed through the gates she didn't even take her horse to the stables. She jumped off, carrying me in her arms, and took me straight to the bathhouse.

“Keep your eyes shut tight,” she said, putting me down. The warmth of the hot floor radiated through my numb feet as I scrunched up my face, preparing for what came next.

Warm water began to slowly run down my body from overhead. I could hear Catherine pouring it out of one of our larger buckets. ‘So… tired…’ My body was beginning to get heavier and heavier as I felt the weight of exhaustion begin to crush me. I almost fell asleep just standing there as my body began to stop shivering altogether.

“Again, try to keep your eyes open this time, we need to make sure we get out all of the acid.'' She poured another bucket of water over my head, as I looked up and back my dizziness caught up with me, and combining it with the weight of the water hitting my face I crashed down onto my knees. “Siya!”

My knees cracked as they hit the ground but it barely registered, even though I could hear it, I only felt the impact, not any of the pain I would have expected to come with it. “I'm fine” I mumbled.

My eyes had become fountain heads as my body desperately fought to protect my eyes. I couldn't even feel whether or not the water was warm or cold. I slowly sprawled out on the floor, propping myself up with my arms as everything began to blur.

I knew that if anyone could help me it would be Catherine. The familiar warmth of her embrace filled me with a calm that reminded me of home. She was a medic at one point. Even keeping that in mind though I couldn't hide how pitiful I was. Sitting on the floor, covered in slop and not even able to see clearly as my eyes puffed up. I sniffled. “Keep going, it's still… Still burns” I said with a cough. She poured another bucket of water over my face, this one sending me all the way to the floor. I closed my eyes and everything went black.

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As I faded in and out of consciousness I vividly remembered sitting in a nice warm bath. For a moment it seemed like I was back on earth, and my mother was helping me try to wash a bucket of paint out of my hair. My mom expected me to break down in tears, and to be honest, I almost did. But I was also kind of happy that I had someone like her to take care of me and spend the 5 hours it took to wash all the paint out so that I didn't have to cut it all off…

“Mom…”

“...” I made out a soft and kind voice, but I couldn't understand a single word as I faded out again.

…

I woke up the next morning lying in my bed in the dark. Reaching up to rub my eyes I felt the sensation of a tight bandage wrapped around my face, covering them. I could smell the fragrance of herbs, and although my eyes were itching, I thought it best to resist the urge to scratch them.

It feels like so long ago now “Mom…” I mumbled, tearing up, which only made the itching worse. ‘I must have mistaken Catherine for her.’ As I thought about it, I couldn't even remember what my mother looked like anymore. My memory from my new life was flawless as far back as the age of 1 with little exception, but my older memories felt like normal memories. The longer I went on the hazier they became, and since I avoided thinking about my past life they only seemed to fade faster with each passing day.

“I'm here…” I heard Mara’s voice, but it was soft and quiet like the wind whispering in my ear. The hint of uncertainty it carried was enough to make me think for a second that I had imagined it.

She spoke like she wasn't sure if she was even supposed to. At first, I thought that it couldn't have been her, but who else would have answered to that word other than my own mother?

I didn't know what to say either. I had only said it while thinking of my old mom, my mother back on earth. I hadn't intended to call out to her.

My ears were acutely aware of every noise happening around me. I could even hear her lips separate before slowly closing as she hesitated to speak once again.

I lowered my hands from my eyes back down to the bed. They tingled with a dull pain, and I could feel blisters covering them. ‘It's good that my fingers only blistered, if the frostbite was any worse I might have lost them entirely…’ “Mar–” I paused, feeling embarrassed and unsure of what to call her. “Mara.” I finally said, falling back to calling her by name simply because it was what was familiar to me. “How am I doing?”

I heard her sigh. It was the same sigh I had heard a thousand times, a sigh of disappointment, and with it, her voice returned to normal. “Well, you got pretty bad frostbite, your ankle is badly injured as well, but I won't know the exact damage until the swelling goes down. I splinted it to make sure, but I doubt it's broken. Your eyes should be fine as well, but just to be safe I'm going to have you leave the bandage on a while longer.”

My train of thought stopped still for a moment as her voice began drifting further and further away, fading into a blur. I could feel sweat dripping from my skin, but I still felt cold.

My mind sank into the ocean of thoughts and became lost thinking about everything that could have gone wrong. Before long, I couldn't even hear her anymore. ‘I almost died, almost lost my fingers and my feet, I got eaten, I almost got killed.’ I couldn't decide which of the many fates was worse, but somehow I avoided all of them. Well… Except for the being eaten part, but that was a part of my plan anyway so I couldn't really complain.

‘It's… over.’ I almost pinched myself for thinking something so obvious. It was over the moment I ripped the magic stone from the monster's mouth. It all felt so surreal, like it was a dream, or something that had happened years ago. It almost felt like it didn't even happen at all and it was just a story that I heard. I had the injuries to prove it though. It really was something that happened, and it really was over. I was safe.