I stare in awe at the massive glass dome in front of me. It reminds me of the dome at the academy, the only difference being the glass is black and seems to shimmer in the sunlight. It's like the whole building is shaking.

"Welp, this is where I stop. Hope you have fun." Abe twirls around and quickly walks away. He must be trying to avoid someone here. That wouldn't surprise me, considering he's a loan shark and probably a con man. I walk up to the entrance, and two doors slide open.

Inside is a large waiting area. Twenty to thirty chairs make up most of the space, and a lady in a black suit sits at a desk covered in glass.

"Name." The lady says from behind her sunglasses.

"Silen Stone." The woman scrolls through a screen I can't see, and motions for me to sit. Why is she wearing sunglasses inside? Is that some kind of trend? I stare at her for probably too long before a door opens in the wall. That's crazy, there wasn't even a slit to show there were doors there. Then again, that prison Mirin put me in was the same. Maybe it's connected.

A woman in a black lab coat, dress pants, dress shoes, and a red shirt steps out. Her black hair is braided over her shoulder, and just like the desk lady, she wears black shade.

"Silen Stone, I presume?" I stand with a nod. "Follow me." We walk down a long white hallway with no doors. Occasionally, I'll hear a wail or the sound of something exploding. I'd ask what those sounds are if the woman wasn't leaking an unpleasant feeling. Must've had a long day.

We entered a room where there wasn't originally a door, but as soon as we get close, it opens like it was always there. Inside was a padded chair and a desk. Besides that, the room was bare.

"Sit, please." The lady motions to the single chair. "You can call me Doctor Livingston. I am the one in charge of your case."

I tilt my head slightly, "Case? You make it sound like I'm on trial."

"It's just a formality." Okay. Not weird at all. "Now, what do you know about your current situation with your body?" She taps the desk, and it raises to her chest level.

"Well, I'm stronger and faster than I used to be. I don't need to eat or drink much, and my body doesn't produce any waste. I can't seem to get sick or drunk, and I run cold."

Livingston nods along as I list things about my body, "Just as we thought." She mutters to herself. She taps her sunglasses, and a screen pops up on the desk. She moves it so it's vertical and not horizontal. "Your body is in a unique situation at the moment. Tell me, can you feel your heartbeat?"

"Uh yeah." I raise my hand to my heart, and it's beating just fine.

She nods, "That is quite interesting. You see, technically, you are dead."

"I'm WHAT!"

She pulls up a chart, "This chart tracks your BPM while you were in the hospital. This was over the span of two days." There's nothing there. Just a straight line. "And this is a regular person's BPM." Unlike mine, the line moves up and down repeatedly. She looks at me over her sunglasses, slightly concerned, "Silen, you have no heartbeat."

"That's not possible." Even though those words come out of my mouth, I don't believe them. Something always felt...off.

"You're right. In the world of medicine, you would be pronounced dead. However, you are not. You still breathe normally, and your body mostly operates like normal." She pulls up another chart, "However, upon further inspection, your blood has no cells. Or, more correctly, your blood is made up of dead blood cells."

She pulls up a document and continues talking, "We are aware of your circumstances. The core poisoning in your body still remains, as proven by the black veins and your red lock. You should be dead. But one of my associates discovered traces of the black core implanted in your body within your blood."

She taps her desk, and the holo screen fades away, "It would seem that the black core dissolved into your blood as a way to counter the poison. At the moment, your body is in a sort of stasis, the poison and the core fighting each other, one trying to destroy and the other trying to heal."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She leans onto the desk and looks down at me, "Your body is at war with itself. How did the core manage to dissolve? How are you still alive even though you are technically dead? What happens to you if the core manages to suppress and eradicate the poison? These are questions you have right now. Probably more. Unfortunately, I have no answers for you. This has never happened and, realistically, shouldn't be possible."

I sit there trying to process all this information. How am I supposed to react to this? Cry? Scream? Beg the doctor to cure me? Sounds to me like the core is trying to do that already. There's no point in begging the doctor to do something. She said there's nothing they can do. "What happens if the core fails to eradicate the poison?"

Livingston crosses her arms, "If the core loses entirely, you will drop dead. I doubt you would even notice. If it remains a stalemate, you will continue living as you are now. You won't age, get sick, or die from blood loss. Honesty, the only thing that can kill you is the destruction of your brain, which is still as active as a normal humans. If I had to guess, the only reason your body mimics a living one is thanks to the core."

Her face darkens, "Black cores are a complete unknown. The myths say those things can level mountain ranges, split the sky, and give the wielder eternal life. How Mirin managed to find one is a secret I imagine he'll take to the grave."

I sink in my chair. If what she says is true, then there's nothing I can do. Only time will tell. I sigh heavily.

"You are surprisingly calm."

I shrug, "I always knew something was off; I just couldn't figure out what it was. If I drop dead, then that means it's as far as I go. I have no control over this. Besides, I don't have the time to wonder about what ifs."

"I see." She taps her glasses and remains silent for several seconds. "Well, you know the situation. This is not something any human or Siphon medicine can help with. Honestly, I'm surprised Siphons even work on you. Regardless, this is all the time I have for you today." She walks over to the wall, and the door opens, "If you have any pressing questions, please contact our office. In the meantime, my team and I will continue monitoring your situation. My associates will call for you every month or so to get a blood sample."

**************

With a grunt, I flop onto my bed, tossing my sword to the side. A lot of things happened today, and I'm still not sure how to react. I trace my black veins with a finger. The first thing I should do is get another arm guard. The rest of my armor is surprisingly untouched, but that Kob really did a number on that gauntlet. I start to doze when my glass beeps. Pulling it out of my pocket, the screen pops up with a message from Zack.

"Yo, if you're not busy, how about me and you go do a bit of training. Surely, after sleeping for two whole days, you're filled with energy." A groan escapes my lips. Training is the last thing I want to do. Silencing my glass, I toss it onto the small table beside my bed. Zack can go train by himself.

Just as I start to fall asleep, there's a loud banging at my door, "Silen, get out here. I know you're in there." With a heavy sigh, I open the door. Zack looks at me expectantly, "Get ready, I'll be downstairs." He jumps over the railing.

"Arrg." I run my hand through my hair. Why can't I just sleep? Grabbing my sword, I put my boots on and lumber down the steps. Zack leans against a sleek bullet-shaped floater made in chrome. I've never seen one like this. It's very...fancy.

Zack slaps the roof, "Like what you see? It's my personal ride."

"You can have them as personal vehicles?"

He scoffs, "Of course. You need a license, and personal floaters are expensive as hell, but it can be done." He taps his glass against the floater, and two doors rise up. He climbs into the driver's seat, and I step into the passenger side. The inside is made of pure leather, something I've only seen the richest of men have in Calypso. On Zacks's side are a few screens displaying numbers and measurements I can't understand. In the center is a large hologram that acts as an entertainment screen. Zack taps a few of the screens in front of him, and we rise, flying into the highways in the sky.

"Where are we going?"

Zack remains silent for a few seconds as he tinkers with the screens, "The Chasm. You'll understand when we get there." Zack says nothing more nor indicates he wants to talk, so I stare out the window. We fly for an hour before we exit the city limits. Not many floaters seem to leave the border. To our left and underneath us, the Exlades expand out of sight as usual, but to our right, the wall continues.

I point it out to Zack. "Yeah, the wall keeps going until we reach the chasm. It prevents Shells from circling around and hitting us." I did read about the wall. The other side actually turns diagonal after awhile and goes directly into the Exlades, far enough away that Shells would die trying to walk through it. The wall itself is made out of a super smooth stone from Igneous, so Shells can't climb. Though the flying ones can cross every now and then.

Another thirty minutes go by until Zack stops the floater. I glance around, but there's still nothing but grass and the wall. "Why-" Zack holds up his hand. He grumbles as he messes with the screens until the floater starts to rise.

"We're far enough that I can remove the height limiter." He says nothing more as we rise, though I doubt I would have heard him. My mouth goes dry. Below us, the terrain changes as a ginormous void stretches in front. I couldn't see it before because the walls of the void were covered with grass blades, but now that we're far above, the darkness of the gap becomes visible. It's a perfect cut, several hundred feet wide and who knows how deep. I peek around Zack as the line of darkness gets smaller but never ends.

"Welcome to the Chasm."