Ed woke up with a start, the pain seared into his mind and body as he let out a gut-wrenching wail. Without even looking around at where he was, he began scratching and clawing at his face again. His fingers scraped across his cheeks as his nails cracked.

In less than a second, his fingers turned into threads and pierced through his face. Unable to control his strength under overwhelming and agonising pain, the threads exploded through his head, and pierced out the other side.

His brain was scrambled as the threads threw his body into chaos. His body continued to mechanically dig away in attempts to remove the strange viscous liquid. The pain he was feeling was unbearable, but no matter what he did, even if he turned his entire body into threads, he couldn’t get rid of the liquid. He couldn’t even find it.

He wailed in pain, but then a calm, warm glow rained down on him. It washed over him, and his heart felt calm. He returned to his human form, covered in blood and open wounds. Slowly, everything began to heal. He brain began to fix itself, and the first thing he felt was that he was trapped in a tight embrace.

Finally looking around at the world around him, he found himself on a bed in a black and white world. Zara was hugging him from behind as her healing glow radiated off her. She clung tightly to him, refusing to let go as she forced all of her energy into healing him.

Ed calmed down under her warmth and protection. His hands dropped to his side as his nails healed back over. He was still covered in blood, but the holes dotting his body closed up, and he was as good as new.

Zara refused to let go, and continued to stubbornly pump her healing energy into him, even when he was fine.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” He tapped on her hands gently as he tried to calm her down.

She finally opened her eyes, and pulled the energy back into her body. She was sweating all over, and looked like she was about to collapse, but a soft smile still appeared on her lips. She clung to him even tighter, almost to the point of crushing his ribs.

With a bit of quick thinking, he turned his insides into threads so that they wouldn’t take as much damage from her inhuman strength.

The two stayed there in bed for a while, neither of them speaking as the mood settled. Thanks to Zara’s efforts, the pain Ed was feeling had disappeared. But the memory of it was still vividly painted in his mind.

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What happened? Where am I? Even after his brain healed, it was a mottled mess of memories. Three entirely different lives had been scrambled together in his head, and he was struggling to figure out what was real.

A medieval life, a cyberpunk world, and the strange and brutal modern life he had experienced. Which was real? A flood of memories rushed into his mind. Every second played out like a movie, constantly jumping from one life to the next in a rush that made his head swell.

Slowly, the memories of his other two lives faded into the background, and he regained his bearings. Everything settled into place, and he remembered who he was, and what he had done. But the other lives didn’t disappear. He could still pull on those memories whenever he wanted to. The weight and heft of the sword in his hand. The feeling of running and climbing through the city.

It all sat there in the back of his mind. Not interfering with his real life and thought process, but able to be called upon whenever he needed something.

Taking Zara’s hand, the two felt utterly exhausted. They rested there on the bed for a few minutes before the bed started moving on its own. Too tired out from their ordeals, they just decided to go with it and let the bed take them wherever it was going.

The bed moved out of the building and onto the street. The entire city was in black and white. But not only that, everything about it felt softer, like the edges of everything had been rounded out. Everything looked plush and comforting, like you could fall asleep anywhere and it would be the best sleep you ever had.

The streets were empty aside from a few beds moving here and there. Some had people sleeping on them. A few had people who were awake. The city itself was surprisingly clean like it hadn’t seen human life in centuries. Not a single bit of trash or scrap littered the city.

But at the same time, neither was there any unseemly dirt or dust that you would expect to find in a lifeless city. It was as if nothing could change the city, not even time itself.

Following along the road after a few soft turns, the couple returned to the teleportation hub from which they had entered the city. By now, more beds carrying sleeping passengers could be seen.

After a short wait, the two of them were dropped off at the teleportation hub, which seemingly had no one operating it. Stepping inside, the teleporter flashed and after a couple minutes, the couple found themselves back in Pride City.

Back in familiar territory, colour rushed back into their senses. They even felt like they could smell, hear, and taste the onrushing colours. The hustle and bustle of the city was completely different the perfect silence of Sloth City. The two cities really couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.

Flowing out of the teleportation hub with the large crowd of people, Ed made a call and found an empty spot for the two to wait at. A few minutes later, a familiar car parked in front of them.

Opening the door, Ed allowed Zara to get in first, before joining her in the back of the car. “Take us home please.”