Everything became black. Eerie, and very uncomfortable. In the next moment, Gorn felt something somewhat familiar. He was yet again surrounded by some type of thick liquid. In a way, it was like being submerged in water.

His status, and abilities did not work, and moving seemed almost impossible. ‘What is happening?!’ Panic started to kick in at a fast pace. ‘No! I must remain calm no matter what!’ yelled Gorn to himself. The previous time, he vowed to have a composed behavior in case such a situation was going to repeat itself.

‘Ok… Calm down Gorn, calm down…’ With great difficulty, he managed to regain some of his cool. ‘Let’s analyze everything that happened, there must be some clues somewhere…’

He thought about what he did the previous days, but nothing seemed to explain what was happening to him at this moment. ‘The last thing that I remember is Sara asking me if I am alright…’

Thankfully, he was in the presence of a decent, and capable human being when all this happened. ‘Is this happening only in my head?’ While he could not move freely, he clearly felt his stationary body. ‘This can’t be a dream, everything feels so real…’ Gorn wasn’t unfamiliar with lucid dreams, but what was happening to him right now seemed completely different to that.

‘Was I teleported here entirely?’ That was also a feasible explanation. ‘If that’s the case, then I don’t need to be worried about being attacked by monsters or other people. At least not there…’ He could easily find out if this option was true, by simply asking Sara once he got back. ‘Will I get back to my previous state though?’ A wave of fear assaulted him together with that question.

‘Calm down… Calm down…’ It took a great deal of willpower to not fall into despair. The situation was just too peculiar, and he had no information whatsoever about what was happening.

‘The only thing that remains to do, is to try to move my body. There must be some clues somewhere around this place…’ The only problem with this plan was that he could not move at all. The last time, he managed to open his eyes, albeit with incredible difficulty. Unfortunately, his vision was blurry, and he could not see anything.

‘Maybe that headache will bring me back to my original condition…’ If it happened one time, it could happen again. Gorn braced himself for the enormous pain that was going to result from his attempts of moving his body.

‘Let’s do it!’ Gorn used his willpower and tried to move. He started slowly, paying special attention towards any consequences that his actions might bring.

‘So that’s how it is…’ Exactly like last time, the more effort he put into trying to move any part of his body, the more pain he felt. It wasn’t pleasant at all. In fact, it was a terrible experience.

.

.

.

After an unknown amount of time.

‘Just how long has it been?’ He reached the same level of pain like the last time, but nothing happened. He also managed to open his eyes for a few moments, but saw nothing but darkness. Closing his eyes, he focused on his hands. The most he was able to achieve was slightly moving his fingers, and nothing else.

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‘This is so hard…’ Gorn stopped. He was mentally exhausted and couldn’t exert much anymore. ‘Is this where I die? In this unknown place, without having any idea about what is happening?’ The situation was dire, and the escape route was shrouded in mystery. The only path to some answers seemed almost impossible to traverse, and it brought him incredible pain.

Gorn did not despair, but he felt incredibly small and powerless. The pride he accumulated in the past few months since he obtained the enigmatic system was rapidly shattering into pieces. ‘I guess that I am nothing but a speck of dust…’

Despite the odds, his heart was still beating. Something deep within his being refused to give up. It wasn’t just the will to live, it was something else, something he knew nothing about, something greater. Like an unextinguishable spark, that something kept him going.

Gorn did not know yet what that spark was.

He continued to try to move. When feeling like he could no longer do it, he rested for a bit. Gorn repeated these actions for an unknown amount of time. His persistence brought him a small success. He could now move his whole hand, something that he previously deemed as impossible.

Suddenly, and without any prior notice, Gorn opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Sara’s face. She was looking attentively at him.

“You finally woke up…” Her expression seemed to emanate relief.

Gorn looked to the side, he was still on top of the tree. He was laying down, while his head rested on Sara’s legs. All the pain, and the darkness, disappeared. He could move, and see again.

“For a moment I thought that I wasn’t going to see you again…” His eyes became a little teary, some effort required not to cry.

“It’s alright, everything is fine now.” Sara saw, and felt that something bad had happened, and Gorn’s emotions were unstable. She caressed his head, and did not ask any questions, even though she had a lot of them.

A few moments of silence followed. Gorn took advantage of this time, stabilizing his emotions.

“Can you please tell me what happened to me?” asked Gorn, breaking the silence.

“You fell unconscious to the ground. No matter what I did, I could not wake you up… You were barely breathing, and your heart slowed down so much that I thought you were going to die…”

“I see…” Apparently, his body was still in this place. ‘Then everything that happened, was that all only in my head?’ Everything seemed too real, making him rather confused. ‘Wait… Is this really my body?’ A sudden thought went through his brain like a bolt of lightning. He remembered the first time he found himself in this place. His appearance was way younger that it should have been. ‘But still…rather than that, everything else is the same…’

Gorn was confused, and did not know what to make out of the situation. The information he had was just too little.

“There was something else,” said Sara, diverting him from his thoughts. “Soon after you feinted, weird black lines appeared on half of your face. They looked like some kind of tattoo. Before you woke up, those black patterns slowly disappeared.”

Gorn froze in place for a second: “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I am sure,” replied Sara. “Just what is going on with you?”

What she said was a valuable clue, a small piece of the enormous puzzle that he wanted to build. “Thank you for taking care of me!” Gorn’s gaze was full of gratitude. Sara smiled gently as a response.

“Some very strange things are happening to me. Unfortunately, I have little to no information about what is going on. Just guessing brings too many questions…” Even if he wanted to tell her, he had nothing solid.

“I see… Then that’s even more reasons why you should come by my side.”

“Is that offer still available after what happened? As things stand, I might become more of a burden than of any help…”

Sara looked directly in his eyes for a few moments, then said seriously: “It’s still available. No matter what happens, I don’t think that you will become a burden to me.”

Gorn was surprised: “Aren’t you putting a little too much trust in me? After all, you barely know me.”

Sara was still intensely looking into his eyes, barely even blinking. It was like she was trying to see deeply inside his heart. “That’s what my gut feeling is telling me. I’m willing to take a few risks…”

At that moment, Gorn and Sara felt a spark of something special forming between the two of them. It was hard to explain in words, but there was a natural attraction between them.